


This love came back to me

by rachlovesligers



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-04-03 23:46:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4119019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rachlovesligers/pseuds/rachlovesligers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve & Peggy are content with married life when they receive some unexpected news. This is a story of what might have been if Steve had been recovered from the ice much sooner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an AU where Bucky didn’t fall from the train and Steve was found in the ice not long after the events of Agent Carter.

Peggy had been feeling off for the past few days. She’d actually thrown up a few times but the nausea had passed quite quickly, so she’d felt no need to take time off work. Steve had tried to convince her otherwise, of course. He’d pleaded with her, and even tried to entice her with the offer of him staying home as well, claiming they could spend the day together. But she knew him well enough to know he was unlikely to let her do anything other than rest, and she didn’t need rest, she was fine.

Steve had been recovered from the Arctic two years after he’d crashed, but they had married only months later. Having spent so much time during the war tiptoeing around their feelings for each other they didn’t see the sense in taking things slowly anymore. It had been a small ceremony with only their closest friends present, Howard had tried to convince them to have a more extravagant affair, and even offered to pay, but they were perfectly content with their modest church wedding followed by an evening of drinking with the Howling Commandos. Steve had worn his uniform and Peggy had worn a lovely but practical blue dress. Though she’d bought it for the occasion, she’d opted for something which could be worn again since it seemed an awful waste to buy a dress which could only be worn once. Upon returning from their honeymoon in the English countryside they had moved into a modest apartment in Brooklyn, and had quickly become rather settled into married life.

It was in their small apartment where Peggy stood using all the determination she could muster to fight yet another wave of nausea. But her efforts were in vain and after throwing up for the fourth time that week Steve stopped her as she came out of the bathroom.

“Peggy”

“No”

He wrapped his arm around her waist, “You’re clearly not well.”

“I’m alright Steve, I just need –” she was cut off by another wave of nausea as she pulled away and ran back to the bathroom. When she’d emptied her stomach Steve was leaning against the doorframe, his concern clear on his face.

“Oh, alright,” she conceded, “but if I’m feeling better by lunchtime I’m coming in to work.”

Steve just shook his head in exasperation as he went to get ready.

..............

The nausea passed just as quickly as it had come, and Peggy spent her morning at home catching up on some paperwork. By midday she felt well enough to go back to the office, so she got dressed and headed over to the diner to have lunch. When she arrived Angie was busy behind the counter, so Peggy nodded in greeting and headed over to her usual booth.

Though she still worked at the diner Angie’s career was beginning to take off. After Steve had heard about Angie’s dreams of starring on Broadway he’d put her in contact with some of his old acquaintances from the Captain America War Bonds Tour. She’d got her foot in the door with a few small roles in some decent Broadway shows, but still took shifts at the diner every so often to cover her rent.

“Captain dreamboat not with you today?” Angie said as she approached Peggy’s table.

“No, he’s already at work. I took the morning off.”

“Oh?” Angie slid into the booth opposite her, a questioning look on her face. “What for? You never take time off.”

“I was just feeling a little nauseous, that’s all,” Peggy tried to brush it off, “but it’s nothing to worry about, it usually passes quite quickly.”

“Usually?” Angie raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve been ill a few days this week, but like I said, it passes quickly.”

“Any other symptoms?”

“Other symptoms?”

Angie was looking at her with an expression that suggested she was waiting for the penny to drop. When Peggy didn’t respond Angie leaned across the table and said in a low voice, “When was your last period?”

“ _Angie!_ ”

Angie just shrugged her shoulders but Peggy suddenly realised that she couldn’t remember. She tried to work out the dates in her head, she could remember one relatively recent period but surely it couldn’t have been her last one because it was almost three months ago, and hers had never been irregular. She looked up and the panic must have been clear on her face.

“Oh god, English.”

“I can’t be.” She began recounting the dates.

“You need to see a doctor. I have the morning off tomorrow so I’ll come with you.”

“Angie, you don’t need to do that.”

“I’ll swing by your place around nine.”

Peggy simply nodded, still feeling a little dazed.

..............

When Peggy announced she was taking another morning off, Steve thought he’d misheard, he stared at her in confusion for a moment but she slipped into her dressing gown and walked back to their bedroom like it was nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn’t like Peggy to be so willing to take time off, but he was always suggesting she ought to stop working so hard so he wasn’t about to object.

It was an ordinary day at work, though he still wore his uniform on occasion “Captain America” was needed much less frequently now that the war was over, so he’d taken up a position with the Strategic Scientific Reserve. He’d fought and almost died to protect peoples’ freedoms during the war, and he felt he was of most use in a position where he could continue to protect those freedoms.

By mid-morning Steve had eaten the lunch he’d brought to work so he decided to get lunch at the diner, hoping he might see Peggy there. When he arrived he was disappointed to see her usual booth empty, but he waved to Angie as he noticed her behind the counter. He’d barely even sat down before she came bounding over to him.

“If you’re hoping to see Peggy in here you’re out of luck, she told me this morning she was gonna go straight to work.”

“You’ve seen her?”

“Yeah, I went with her to her doctor’s appointment.”

Steve looked at her in confusion as he tried to recall if Peggy had mentioned a doctor’s appointment, he was sure he would have remembered because convincing Peggy to see a doctor was an even more difficult task than convincing her to take a day off.

Angie’s eyes widened, “I assumed she would have told you, I um…, I better go check on your order...” She ran off towards the kitchen, clearly flustered as she was yet to take Steve’s order, and barely a moment later another waitress was at his table.

As Steve ate he tried not to dwell on why Peggy had neglected to mention her doctor’s appointment, but he couldn’t seem to keep his mind off it. It didn’t help that Angie suddenly seemed extremely busy talking to other customers or hidden away in the kitchen, as he tried in vain to catch her eye.

..............

Steve still felt uneasy about Angie’s reaction to her slip up, so as soon as he arrived back at the SSR he headed straight to Peggy’s office. He found her typing away, completely immersed in her work. Although he was stood in the doorway he had to knock on the open door to get her attention.

She jumped slightly as she looked up. “Steve!”

“I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

“Of course not,” she stood as he closed the door behind him and walked towards her, wrapping her up in his arms.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked.

“Much better,” she smiled up at him before planting a quick kiss on his lips.

He suddenly felt nervous knowing he needed to ask her about her doctor’s appointment, he didn’t want to be intrusive, but it had worried him. He played with a strand of her hair and avoided looking her at her directly as he asked. “I saw Angie today, and she said something about you going to see a doctor this morning?”

When she didn’t reply he turned to look at her, but her eyes were down. Panic began to rise inside him but it only lasted a moment before her head snapped up and she had a reassuring smile on her face.

“I did see a doctor this morning, I was a little concerned about how often I’d been ill, but he assured me it’s nothing to worry about and should pass in a few days.”

He still felt a little uneasy as he studied her face for any traces of doubt, but she tugged at his collar and his mind became completely occupied by the feel of her lips pressed to his while her nails ran over his scalp. Steve suddenly felt extremely grateful he’d had the foresight to shut the door as her hand wondered slowly down his back.

..............

Steve met Peggy at the end of the day, and they took their usual route home walking arm in arm, since they were a few blocks away from the office they felt a little more comfortable displaying their affection for each other. They were almost home when they spotted Angie, she waved enthusiastically and came over to greet them.

“I’m so sorry about earlier, I really put my foot in it telling Steve about your doctor’s appointment,” she directed at Peggy.

“It’s quite alright, I’ve told him now that it was only a –”

“Thank god! I don’t think I could have kept it in for much longer, this is huge news!”

“ _Angie_ ”

Steve turned to see Peggy glaring at her friend.

“Oh jeez I’ve done it again, haven’t I?” Angie’s remorseful look brought back the unease Steve had felt earlier. She rushed her goodbyes and left before there was a chance to say anything else.

“What was that about?” he looked questioningly at Peggy.

“Let’s go home, shall we?” her smile was tight and she ignored his question as she gently tugged on his arm.

..............

They’d walked the rest of their journey in silence, but once the door to their apartment was shut Steve felt comfortable confronting Peggy.

“What did the doctor really say?”

She took his hand and pulled him over to the sofa, but when she let go as soon as they were sitting Steve felt his stomach flip. He could tell something was off. Peggy was looking down as she fiddled with her rings, he couldn’t stand the silence so he put his hand under her chin and gently tilted her face towards his, there was a shimmer to her eyes that he didn’t understand at first, but the second he did he began to panic.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong Steve,” the edge in her voice surprised him, and he dropped his hand instantly. “Everything is absolutely perfect.”

“I don’t understand.”

Peggy put her head in her hands and her shoulders began to shake, he was confused for a moment before he heard her quiet sobs. Steve couldn’t stand to see Peggy cry, he rubbed his hand in soothing circles on her back. He wanted to wrap his whole body around her and hold her tightly until she stopped crying, but her irritation had confused him and he wasn’t sure how much she wanted comforting.

“Please talk to me,” he said desperately.

With her head still in her hands he heard Peggy take a deep breath before she spoke. “I’m pregnant, Steve.”

His entire body froze in shock, except for his mouth, which opened and closed silently as he tried to form words. He didn’t know what he had expected Peggy to tell him but it certainly hadn’t been this.

This was too much. He’d already been given more than he had ever dreamed of having, he was married to an intelligent, strong, and beautiful woman, who was way out of his league but by some miracle felt as strongly for him as he did for her. He’d been given a chance at healthy, long life thanks to the serum, and then a second chance at that life after Stark recovered his plane from the Arctic. He’d been able to serve his country just like all the other men and women who’d done their part, and came out of the war with his best friend by his side, as well as a whole team of new friends who were willing to put their own lives on the line for him. Surely he couldn’t be allowed this as well. There was no way he could be deserving of this much happiness.

Peggy shook his arm and he realised he hadn’t given her any clue as to what he was thinking. “Steve? Talk to me.” The look on her face was apprehensive and her tears had spilled over onto her cheeks.

“We’re going to have a baby?” his smile was enormous and as he blinked he could feel his own tears beginning to pool.

She nodded and Steve wrapped his arms around her, pressing little kisses into her hair, across her cheeks, down her nose.

“I take it you’re happy then?” Peggy laughed, though her voice still shook a little.

“So happy,” he said between kisses, his voice thick with emotion.

Peggy was smiling too, but her reaction earlier hadn’t seemed like one of happiness, and it worried him.

Steve wiped away the tears that had left traces down her cheeks, “How do you feel about this?”

“I am happy.”

“You don’t sound so sure.”

“It’s just,” she looked down, “my career was just beginning to move forward, I’d finally started to gain some respect at work, and now I’ll be forced out.”

“No one can force you to do anything.”

“Women don’t work after they have children, Steve. It’s a push to be working while I’m married.”

“When have you ever done what’s expected of you? You’ll do this your way because that’s who you are, and I’ll be right by your side.”

She leaned into him, “It’s not that simple.”

He hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out how best to help her. “I know it won’t be easy, but we can work something out. Once you’ve recovered enough to go back to work we can both work part-time so someone’s always here with the baby, I’ll go on less missions and I’m sure Bucky and Angie will help out when they can.”

She sniffed as she looked up at him, “You’d be willing to do that?”

“Of course I would, it’s not fair that you should be the only one to have to make sacrifices.”

Steve saw the shimmer of tears in Peggy’s eyes for a split second before she buried her face in his neck, her arms tightening around him. Though her tears still made him a little uncertain, the tightness of her arms around him, which probably would have been painful had he been smaller, seemed to indicate he’d said the right thing. He wrapped his arms around her in response until they were so closely cuddled up together there was hardly any space between them.

He heard a muffled “I love you” from Peggy.

“I love you too, both of you.” He leaned down to cover her in soft kisses, in her hair, along her shoulder, down her arm.

“You'd better still be this affectionate when I’m the size of a house,” Peggy said into his neck.

He chuckled, “As if that would put me off, I love you more than anything.”

“Sap”

“And you love it,” he replied, earning him a light thump on the chest from Peggy. The euphoria Steve felt at the thought of him and Peggy having a child together was unlikely to wear off anytime soon, and quite frankly he didn’t want it to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think! I've been really excited about writing this story, and it's always great to know whether other people enjoyed it.
> 
> My tumblr is http://rachlovesligers.tumblr.com/ for anyone who's interested.


	2. Chapter 2

Despite Angie’s countless reassurances that morning sickness stopped after three months for most women, she’d been told by various relatives, Peggy was clearly not as fortunate as “most women” as she sat with her head in her hands, focusing on her breathing to try and keep away the strong urge to throw up, well into her fourth month of pregnancy.

She felt Steve’s hand on her knee as he knelt down beside her. “Can I get you something to eat? Or some tea, maybe?”

“I can’t keep anything down, Steve.”

“I know, but you need to keep your strength up. Do you think you could try?” He asked softly.

It took her a moment before she could answer, her teeth clenched together as she tried to keep her breathing even. The thought of food wasn’t helping her efforts to keep from being sick, but she knew if she wanted to make it into work that morning, she had to eat.

“I think I can manage some plain toast?”

“You’ve got it,” he jumped up and headed for the kitchen.

..............

They’d known about the pregnancy for a few weeks now and had managed to keep it quiet. Only Steve, Peggy, and Angie knew, and surprisingly none of them had let it slip.

Steve and Bucky were in the weapons room of the SSR office, disassembling and cleaning their various guns. Bucky didn’t work full time for the military anymore, but he was still very much a part of the Howling Commandos and came along if they went on missions, which was becoming much less often these days. Steve suspected it was mostly to keep an eye on him, he knew if it was his own choice Bucky probably would have left the military entirely after the war, and Steve was more than happy for him to do that, but knew there was no way his best friend would ever let him put himself in danger without being there to watch his back.

“We don’t have any missions coming up, do we?” Bucky asked.

“Not that I know of. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve been thinking about taking a few months off and going down to New Jersey for a while, see some of my cousins. It’d be nice to get a break from all this,” he gestured towards the various weapons spread out in front of them.

Steve knew Bucky deserved a break more than anyone, but he hated the thought of his best friend not being around when his and Peggy’s first child was born.

“ _Months?_ ” Steve tried not to sound too upset.

“Only a couple, I’ll be back well before the fall.”

“Oh,” he sighed in relief. “You’ll be back before the baby’s born then.”

“ _What?_ ”

Steve froze, realising his mistake, “I said you’ll be back before the end of summer, we can go on vacation together again.” He kept his eyes down as he slowly picked up the magazine of the gun in front of him and fiddled nervously with it.

“No, you said I’ll be back before the baby’s born.” He paused, waiting for a reply, but Steve kept his eyes fixed on his hands. “Steve, is Peggy expecting?”

He met Bucky’s eyes, “ _Crap_ , we’re supposed to be keeping it a secret!”

“Oh my god!” Bucky was beaming. “Steve this is incredible, I can’t believe it!” Bucky walked over to him and pulled him into a tight hug, slapping him on the back, “Congratulations!”

There was no use in hiding it now, Steve was grinning from ear to ear and when he pulled away he was sure Bucky had tears in his eyes. “Thanks, I still can’t really believe it myself.”

“How’s Peggy? Is she healthy?”

“She’s had a little morning sickness, and she’s a bit tired, but other than that she’s doing really well.”

“That’s good to hear,” Bucky pulled him back for another hug, “you’re really gonna be a dad!”

“I know,” Steve had tears in his eyes now, the enormous sense of joy he felt every time he thought about becoming a father was building up inside him again. “Don’t tell Peggy I told you though, we agreed we’d wait until she starts showing before we start telling people.”

“I won’t, but she’ll figure it out.”

Steve beamed, of course she would figure it out, Peggy Carter never missed a trick, he still couldn’t believe he’d got so lucky. “At the moment only me, Peggy and Angie know. And now you.”

“ _Angie_ knows? You told _Angie_ before me?”

“Well we didn’t really tell her, she sort of guessed it. She knew before I did, knew before Peggy did, even.”

“Of course she did,” Bucky said shaking his head. Steve was actually quite surprised that Angie hadn’t been the one to break the news to Bucky. He could never keep up with their relationship, sometimes they were together, sometimes they weren’t, but even so, Angie wasn’t exactly famous for her ability to keep secrets.

Steve’s secret keeping abilities weren’t much better, he had a tendency to blurt things out when he got excited and Peggy frequently liked to tease him about it. He had been hoping to keep this secret at least for longer than Peggy could, if only to prove her wrong, but since the cat was out of the bag he was thrilled to be able to talk to Bucky about it.

“How far along is she?”

“Four months now.” Steve couldn’t stop smiling.

“Have you thought about where you’re going to, um, has Peggy talked about staying here permanently, or going back home?” Bucky looked a little uncomfortable as he tried to get his question out.

“We’ve decided to stay here, I imagine we’ll have to get a bigger place eventually, but our apartment should be big enough for the time being. Plus, we’re both pretty settled in Brooklyn. Why do you ask?”

Bucky looked relieved, “I was worried Peggy might want to go back to England, raise the kid there. I’m sure that could be great, but I…, I’m just glad you’re not planning to take my little niece or nephew halfway across the world.”

It was clear how much Bucky already cared for Steve and Peggy’s child, and nothing made Steve happier. He reached out to pat Bucky on the shoulder, “As if I could do that. If this kid is anything like me they’re gonna need someone around to pull them out of fights they’re too stubborn to walk away from.”

..............

They were still in the weapons room when Steve heard the familiar click of heels across the concrete floor, he signalled to Bucky to keep his mouth shut as Peggy entered the room with a file in her hand. She looked at Bucky, who simply nodded at her, before turning to Steve.

“You told him, didn’t you?”

Bucky started laughing, “I told you she’d figure it out!”

“It was an accident, I’m sorry,” he looked at her apologetically.

“It’s quite alright, I’m actually rather surprised you managed to keep it from him for this long.”

“How long have you known?” Bucky asked.

“Three weeks now.”

“You kept a secret from me for three weeks? That is impressive.”

“I’m not that bad at keeping secrets!” Steve knew it was hopeless to try to defend himself considering the fact that he’d spilled a secret only moments ago, and he saw Peggy and Bucky exchange a knowing look.

Peggy walked over to Steve and handed him the file in her hand. She wasn’t showing yet but she looked radiant. He glanced over the file, it contained the details of another mission Captain America and his Howling Commandos were needed on.

“Of course I won’t be able to go on this one, but you and Bucky have both been requested,” she explained.

Steve looked to Bucky. “You don’t have to if you still want to go –”

Bucky waived his hand to interrupt him, “No I’d already decided I’m staying, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” He smiled warmly at Peggy and she returned it with a smile of her own, before the three of them headed up to the briefing that was required when a new mission was planned.

..............

After the meeting had ended and Peggy had passed on all the information required to finalise the details of the mission, she sought out Bucky in the weapons room. He’d become skilled at acting as enthusiastic as the rest of the Commandos at the idea of another “adventure”, but Peggy was aware of how difficult this was for him. The missions had been tough after his experience of being Hydra’s captive and test subject, but during the war the rallying comradery of the team that surrounded him had been enough to make it bearable, even enjoyable at times. However, after almost losing Steve when he took down Hydra’s plane there was a new edge to their missions, now Bucky was keenly aware of how much could be lost.

Peggy knew it was hopeless to try and convince him not to go, he could be just as stubborn as Steve when it came to protecting the people closest to him. But while Steve had been in the ice, she and Bucky had formed a close bond, they’d been a source of support for each other while they both grieved, and that support hadn’t ended after Steve had come back. Though his return had filled the void he’d left, there were still raw spots that she didn’t imagine would ever be completely gone, and she wanted to make sure Bucky could cope with another mission.

When Bucky noticed Peggy standing next to him, a warm smile spread across his face, softening his features that were too often tense, “I didn’t congratulate you properly,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. She hugged him back tightly. “How did you figure out I knew?”

“You glanced at my stomach as soon as I walked in,” she admitted, “it was rather obvious.”

“Dammit! I really thought Steve would’ve been the one to give it away.”

Peggy laughed, but tried to search his eyes for any traces of apprehension about the mission, she hoped he wouldn’t feel the need to hide it from her.

But Bucky was clearly no fool, he placed his hand firmly on her shoulder and met her eyes, “I can handle this.”

“I know you can,” she replied gently, “but just know that you don’t have to, he has a good team behind him, and he would never stand in your way if you didn’t want to do this anymore.”

He nodded, “I’ll bear that in mind, but for now, at least, I’m gonna keep following that little guy from Brooklyn. Hydra needs to be wiped off the face of the earth and it can’t hurt to have another person on the team.”

She understood his desire to see Hydra wiped out personally, considering the things they’d done to him, and she couldn’t deny him that.

Peggy turned to leave before Bucky’s voice stopped her.

“I’m glad he gets to have this.” She shot him a questioning look and he explained. “I knew he’d always dreamed about having a family of his own someday, but with his health problems and money not being something we had a lot of, I don’t think he ever allowed himself to really hope for it.”

Peggy nodded in understanding.

“I’m just really happy he has you,” Bucky continued.

“I hope you’re not getting sentimental on me now Barnes?” Peggy was teasing, but she had begun to feel a little emotional herself over the thought of how little hope Steve had had for his future, and over how much hope he deserved to have.

Bucky laughed, “I’m just saying I’m glad he gets to be this happy, he deserves it. I always knew he was a great catch but I worried he might never to find a dame who appreciated him for who he really is. Who saw what so many people overlook.”

She understood exactly, before the serum people had often mistaken Steve for weak and unremarkable, many had been unable to see not only the strength but also the kindness that was within him. After the serum all people saw was his strength, people flocked to him, enthralled by his physical appearance and “Captain America” persona, but they often missed the most beautiful aspects of who Steve was. His kindness and compassion had remained unchanged by the serum, and so many underestimated the value of those qualities. But Bucky had always seen them in Steve, just as she had.

“I agree, though he’s not the only one who deserves happiness,” she added, looking at Bucky pointedly.

“Pfft” he waved his hand dismissively.

Peggy fiddled with some papers left on the table in front of her to ease the discomfort she felt when her emotions were so clearly exposed, but Bucky always seemed to know how to ease tension quickly. “You sure you’re ready to raise Steve’s goofy child?” he grinned at her.

“Our child will not be goofy!” she elbowed him in the ribs playfully.

“If they look anything like Steve they will be, when he was a kid his front teeth were a little too big for his mouth and his ears a little too big for his head, he had the goofiest grin. I’ll see if I can dig out an old picture for you.”

“I’m sure he was an adorable child,” Peggy said stubbornly.

..............

Steve found them in the weapons room. He stood behind Peggy and wrapped his arms around her, resting his hands gently over her stomach. As she turned her head to look at him he kissed her cheek.

“How are you feeling?” he asked softly. Steve had always been extremely attentive towards her, but even more so since they’d found out Peggy was expecting. On the days she was sick, which had been every day, recently, he would make sure her office was stocked with plenty of crackers and water, and offered to make her tea and jam on toast if she was feeling up to it.

“I’m perfectly fine,” she answered dismissively, but Steve gave her a reproachful look so she amended her answer, “as good as can be expected considering I spent the morning emptying the contents of my stomach.” It wasn’t something she wanted to dwell on so she attempted to change the subject, “Bucky was just telling me he thinks our child will be goofy.”

“Is that right?” Steve turned to Bucky.

“Well that’s if they take after you,” Bucky added.

“Poor kid. Though I can’t imagine any child of Peggy’s will be goofy. Anyone she had a part in creating will no doubt be adorable.”

“And most likely unbearably soppy,” Peggy teased.

“Of course they’ll also be exasperatingly difficult to figure out,” Steve retaliated, causing Peggy to roll her eyes. “Not to mention incredibly stubborn.”

She whacked his shoulder, “that trait will come from you.”

Out of the corner of her eye Peggy noticed Bucky smiling widely as he chuckled at their bickering.

“I can’t believe you two idiots are gonna be parents,” he said as he pulled them both into a crushing hug. The three of them held each other close for a moment and it made Peggy wonder why they hadn’t told Bucky right away. After all the horror the three of them had witnessed and endured throughout the war, it felt implausible that they could still have this, this moment of closeness in their excitement over bringing something so full of promise into the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's always so encouraging to get comments or messages about my fanfic, so please let me know what you think of this story so far!
> 
> My tumblr is http://rachlovesligers.tumblr.com/ for anyone who's interested.


	3. Chapter 3

Peggy stood sideways in the mirror as she ran her hand over her stomach. She’d noticed already that she had gained a little weight, but until now it had been spread over various parts of her body, and any weight on her stomach simply made her look a little bloated. But for the first time she could see the beginnings of a bump. Although it could just be the result of the rather large breakfast she’d just eaten. She tried to hold it in as much as she could but no, there was definitely something there.

“Steve,” she called out.

“Yeah,” her husband looked up from where he was sitting on the bed, surrounded by piles of books.

“I think I’m starting to show.”

He walked over to where she was standing and placed a gentle hand over her stomach, spreading his fingers over the tiny bump, “I think you’re right,” his smile stretched from ear to ear.

“Either that or it’s those pancakes you insist on making me every other morning.”

“If I remember correctly, I recall _someone_ saying just the other day that they never wanted to eat anything _but_ my pancakes,” Steve said as he nuzzled her hair.

“I only said that because it happened to be a particularly good batch, I didn’t mean it literally.”

Steve chuckled softly, wrapping his arms around her. She leaned into him and felt his lips at her ear. “That’s not the only part of you that’s changing,” he murmured as his hands roamed over her breasts.

“Cheeky!” she gasped in pretend shock, though made no move to stop his hands as they traced over her bust, making her shiver in pleasure despite the layer of fabric between his hands and her skin.

It was astonishing to see how comfortable Steve was now, considering how hesitant he had been the first time they’d been intimate together. He’d blushed and fumbled, and asked for her permission before everything he did, it had been completely adorable and endearing to watch. But Steve was a fast learner and it hadn’t taken him long to build up his confidence, though he’d struggled particularly with the method of unclasping her brassieres for quite a while, it was something he was an expert at now.

And he wasn’t wrong about her bust, it was most definitely larger than usual, her bras were exceedingly tight, to the point where there was a lot more spillage than there should be. But she hadn’t got round to purchasing new ones, she supposed it was an inevitable task but the years she’d spent living under rationing had ingrained in her a reluctance to spend money unless absolutely necessary, and it felt awfully unnecessary considering she already owned a perfectly decent set of brassieres.

Steve gently bit at the delicate skin just above her collar bone and Peggy groaned.

“I have to get ready for work,” she said, but there was a lack of conviction in her statement, as Steve’s lips trailed along her shoulder, his hands still cupping her breasts.

“This doesn’t have to take long,” he murmured, and the vibration of his voice against her skin was enough to convince her.

..............

Despite Steve’s insistence that their morning’s activities “didn’t have to take long”, they’d nonetheless got a little side-tracked and had almost been late for work. Their combined military training was a blessing when it came to using their time as effectively as possible. Fortunately their offices were in separate sections of the department, so they managed to avoid any knowing glances whenever they walked in late together, and if no one was watching they’d indulge in a quick kiss before parting ways. Though they were married now they still maintained an extremely professional attitude while in the presence of their colleagues; after hours or behind the locked door of one of their offices was another matter, however.

After leaving Peggy with a quick kiss on the cheek Steve made his way to his desk. Left on it was a stack of files he assumed contained new intelligence on Hydra, specifically the rogue units they’d been trying to track down. Shortly after Steve had brought down the plane containing the tesseract and killed Schmidt along with it, Peggy and the rest of the Commandos had done a great job of taking out the remaining Hydra branches, and it had seemed they’d got them all.

That was until Steve had been recovered from the ice and some suspicious activity had alerted them to the fact that they’d never been completely wiped out. Steve thought it was too much of a coincidence that they’d resurfaced just at the same time that he had, he supposed they saw him as a threat and his return was likely the catalyst that brought their underground activities to the surface again. But he knew better than to dwell on that, especially since it provided him with a chance to finish what he’d almost died for.

He picked up one of the files and flicked though a couple of pages before he noticed a note on his desk that indicated that he was needed in the meeting room as soon as he arrived.

When Steve entered he found Peggy and Bucky were already there, along with the majority of the Howling Commandos. Though the Commandos were more often than not continents apart these days, they would regroup at a moment’s notice, and the prospect of a new mission was a sure-fire way to bring the group back together.

“Look what the cat dragged in!” Dugan yelled as he pulled Steve into a crushing a hug.

“Still can’t let go of those bowler hats, huh?” Steve teased, knowing how attached Dugan was to that particular style of hat.

“I see you still don’t know a thing about style,” Dugan replied, tipping his bowler proudly, which earned him a snort from Peggy.

After they’d all exchanged hugs and greetings the group of old friends sat down together and got down to business. They discussed the ins and outs of the mission at length, each of them becoming increasingly more excited and animated as they talked about tactics, weapons, and defeating Hydra one last time. They fell easily into their old rhythm, Happy Sam Sawyer sat quietly in the corner, his small frown shifting slowly into a small smile as the contagious excitement filled the room, Jacques turned to Gabe every so often to add something in French, and then their own laughter caught on as their jokes were half understood by the rest of the team, Dugan took swigs of his bourbon at increasingly frequent intervals, and became even more expressive than he already was. Steve hadn’t realised how much he’d missed this, the feeling of comfort, understanding and friendship between them all.

“I’ve heard Agent Thompson’s been trying to get in on this,” Morita said.

“Yeah, well, the new Chief doesn’t seem as sweet on Thompson as the last one, I think he’ll have to prove himself before he’s allowed to play with the grown-ups,” Dugan replied.

“We don’t need him anyway, we’ve got Carter,” Gabe said, turning to her with a smile.

Peggy paused for a moment before replying, “Actually, I’m afraid I won’t be joining you this time, or any time for a short while.”

There was a collective sound of disappointment and protest.

“It won’t be the same without you Pegs!”

“Is it that idiot Thompson, did he say something to the new Chief? Is he gonna try and stop you from coming with us?”

“No it’s nothing of the sort, it’s my decision not to come, well, in a sense,” she caught Steve’s eye, “would you like to explain?”

Steve could feel the grin spreading across his face, “Yeah we’ve, um, we’ve got some news.” He looked around at the expectant faces of his Howling Commandos, his friends, and noticed Bucky’s knowing smile. “Peggy and I are going to have a baby.”

They were met with an instant eruption of noise, half the room jumped to their feet and Steve felt several slaps on his back. He and Peggy were both passed around for hug after hug and he couldn’t stop smiling, it seemed no one could, and Steve could’ve sworn he saw Dugan wipe a tear from his eye.

..............

After the excitement had finally died down, and Dugan had finished his attempt at interrogating them about who was to be the child’s godfather, they had managed to finalise some details for their next mission. Though Peggy felt rather dejected that she wouldn’t be able to join them, she’d still have an important role back at the office. The Commandos had left with the agreement that they would meet later for celebratory drinks, and had gone to find a bar with the intention of starting early, while Peggy and Steve headed back to work.

Not long after lunch Peggy’s focus was interrupted by a soft knock on her office door. She was still growing accustomed to having her own office. After the business with Leviathan she had been given a small promotion for her role. Though she was still below Thompson, and it was certainly not the promotion she would have received had she been of the preferred gender and her work been fully recognised, it was enough of a promotion to gain her a small office. It allowed her some privacy – when she wasn’t being badgered by other Agents – which became particularly useful when Steve began working at the SSR.

She heard someone whisper a little too loudly, “English, is this one yours?” and to her surprise she realised it was Angie. Peggy jumped up and headed towards the door, ushering Angie into her office as she checked the corridor to make sure she hadn’t been seen.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Is that how you greet your best friend?” Angie feigned offence.

“I’m serious, you’re not supposed to be here, Angie. How did you even get in?”

“I sweet-talked Rose at the door, she’s a real nice lady. We were talking for a while actually, I might’ve let slip a thing or two about you being in the family way, but that’s no big deal right?” she smiled at Peggy sheepishly.

Peggy merely sighed, “I suppose she would’ve found out soon enough.” The relief was clear on Angie’s face.

Before long they were interrupted by a solid knock on Peggy’s office door. She grabbed Angie’s arm and pulled her towards her desk, motioning for her to hide underneath it.

“Calm down, I doubt I’ll get you in that much trouble,” Angie protested, but she crouched down and crawled under Peggy’s desk nonetheless.

“Come in,” Peggy called out nonchalantly. To her surprise it was Bucky who opened the door.

“Hey Pegs,” he entered her office with a brown paper bag in his hand, and he was still wearing his coat, “I stopped by the grocery store and they had those crackers you’ve been eating, I picked you up a whole bunch, and I managed to get a hold of some gingerbread cookies for you too.” His smile seemed a little unsure as he held up the bag in his hand.

“Oh Bucky, you shouldn’t have!” She felt touched by his thoughtfulness.

“I was over there anyway, it wasn’t much trouble.”

“It’s still very kind of you,” Peggy said sincerely as she offered him a warm smile. He returned her smile gladly as he placed the bag on her desk.

She nudged Angie with her leg, “You may as well come out, it’s only Bucky.” Angie shot her a pleading look before reluctantly crawling out, leaving Peggy feeling slightly confused.

Angie and Bucky had quickly become friends after Peggy had introduced the two of them, they had a lot of things in common, both coming from New York, and they shared a similar sense of humour. After Steve was found the four of them frequently spent time together as a group. They all got along so well and it didn’t strike them at first that many of their outings would seem to many to be double-dates. Though Angie and Bucky both insisted they were just friends and anything more would be odd, after a little too much to drink and a night of dancing they’d kissed. That had begun a short period of the pair of them going steady, which quickly ended with an argument blown wildly out of proportion. Though their arguments were rarely about anything substantial, Angie’s dramatic tendencies meant they often ended with ultimatums or vows to never talk again. They would eventually make up, but Bucky’s skill at giving the cold shoulder never failed to made their disagreements last longer.

However, when Angie and Bucky were on good terms they were a wonderful couple. They were adorably mad about each other, and Angie’s sunny demeanour was sometimes the only thing that could pull Bucky out of the dark and hopeless moods that his trauma from the war had left him with.

The uncomfortable surprise on Bucky’s face when he saw Angie come out from under Peggy’s desk confirmed the two weren’t on the best of terms. They nodded in greeting but didn’t say a word, Peggy could already sense the tension in the room.

“Bucky was kind enough to bring me some gingerbread biscuits,” she explained to Angie.

“That’s nice of him,” Angie replied without so much as a glance in Bucky’s direction, her tone clearly not impressed.

Peggy could tell she was going to have to lead the conversation, “So Angie, you didn’t get a chance to tell me why you’re here?”

“I came you see you silly, why else would I be here?” Peggy didn’t miss the implication in her answer, and she doubted Bucky did either.

“I should probably get going,” Bucky began to back towards the door.

“No, please stay,” Peggy pleaded.

“I don’t want to put you in the middle of anything.”

“Are you accusing me of putting her in the middle of this?” Angie shot back, addressing Bucky directly for the first time.

“That’s not what I said at all, and you know it.”

Angie retaliated with another dig but Peggy could feel the beginnings of the nausea that she thought, perhaps too hopefully, had passed. She sank down into her chair as the two of them continued bickering. The sound of them taking cruel shots at each other wasn’t helping Peggy feel any better, so she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, willing it to pass, before they noticed she was no longer paying attention.

“Peggy?” It was Angie who called her name with concern, and her discomfort must have shown on her face because Angie suddenly looked panicked. “Bucky, go and get Steve.”

“I’m alright, it will pass in a minute,” Peggy shook her head dismissively.

But Angie had already turned to face Bucky, “Didn’t you hear me?”

“She said it will pass,” Bucky replied, as he reached for the jug of water on the side table and brought it over to Peggy.

“Oh of course, you always know best,” Angie replied bitterly.

“Will the two of you stop behaving like children!” Peggy scolded, causing both of their heads to whip round in shock. “I’ve no idea what your disagreement is about, but it’s certainly not about me.” They both looked down and their stances brought to mind school children being told off, “whatever has happened between you needs to be discussed calmly between the both of you, and preferably not in my office.”

The both mumbled apologies, still looking slightly abashed.

After Peggy instructed them to sit down she managed to pull some conversation out of them and they both stayed a short while longer, with Bucky and Angie’s politeness towards each other feeling less forced as the conversation went on. Peggy knew they still needed to resolve whatever had happened, but at least they were acting civil for the time being.

..............

At the end of the day Peggy found Steve at his desk, hunched over a stack of files. It was already an hour later than they were supposed to leave, and most of their colleagues had gone home. She and Steve were still due to meet the Commandos for drinks. In the quiet of their usually busy office, Peggy leant against the door frame and took a moment to admire Steve as he worked. A few strands of hair had fallen out of his usually neat style, and fell distractingly across his forehead. It reminded her of the way his hair had often looked when he was smaller, before a tour with the USO girls had enlightened him to the uses of pomade. From the angle at which she was admiring him his thick lashes were even more prominent than usual, covering his blue eyes as he looked from the file to his own notes, scribbling more down as he read.

As she shifted her weight Steve looked up and noticed her standing there.

A beautiful smile broke across his face, “Hey.”

“Are you almost finished?”

“If you’re ready to go, I can be,” he spoke softly, as though not wanting to disturb the quiet that surrounded them.

She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, “I’m happy to meet you there if you’ve things you need to finish.”

He shook his head and closed the file in front of him, pulling her onto his lap. “Let’s go together.”

“Let’s,” she agreed, though neither of them made any move to get up.

Peggy leaned into Steve and rested her head against his. He had one arm wrapped around her and his other hand placed gently on her small bump.

“Angie and Bucky are fighting again.”

“They’ll figure it out, they always do.”

“Always so optimistic,” she said as she stroked her fingers through his hair, brushing the fallen strands off his face. He hummed, either in agreement or contentment, and his eyes drifted closed. “If you’d rather go home I’d be happy to oblige.”

“No, we should go, we have plenty to celebrate,” he said as he rubbed his hand over her bump.

“You’re not wrong.”

“Am I ever?” he replied teasingly. “You want to go, don’t you?”

“Well I’m completely knackered, but I’d hate to miss an opportunity to watch the Commandos getting absolutely wankered.”

Steve looked as though he was trying not to laugh, “Drunk?” he asked, as he occasionally needed to when she used slang he was unfamiliar with.

“Yes my darling, drunk,” she clarified, and then kissed him gently on the lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love hearing people's thoughts on this story, comments and messages are so motivating!
> 
> My tumblr is http://rachlovesligers.tumblr.com/ for anyone who's interested.


	4. Chapter 4

Not long after the news that they were expecting had been confirmed by the doctor, Peggy had come home with a small pile of books for expectant mothers, leant to her by Angie who apparently had numerous relatives looking to offload them. Peggy hadn’t taken much interest, the long lists of unpleasant symptoms coupled with patronising instructions seemed to have put her off pretty quickly, but Steve had become fascinated with what information they did contain about pregnancy and babies. Though he skimmed over the parts that gave instructions to the expectant mother, such as warnings to “avoid exciting activities as they are sure to upset the nerves”. He knew exactly how Peggy would feel about those kind of instructions, and he’d be perfectly understanding of her annoyance considering it wasn’t all that different from the advice he’d often been given before he’d had the serum.

Shortly after the pile had been added to by a few more of Peggy’s female friends, and Steve had barely read anything else since she’d brought them home. He’d even gone as far as borrowing a few more from their local library, though he’d gotten more than a few strange looks when he’d enquired about where he could find them. He found it so fascinating that he couldn’t help but share what he was reading with Peggy, constantly telling her the most interesting parts. She seemed interested by some, though he was sure more often than not she was humouring him.

After a long and tiring day at work the pair of them only had enough energy to remove their coats and shoes before collapsing onto the sofa together. Peggy’s head rested against the arm of the sofa as she lay across it, while Steve sat at the opposite end, Peggy’s feet in his lap. He took her foot in his hands and began to massage it gently, as she hummed in appreciation.

“Swollen feet are a common symptom in expectant mothers,” Steve explained, remembering another piece of information he’d recently learned.

“Did you read that in the baby book?” she teased.

“Well at least one of us should read them.”

“The baby’s going to come just the same whether you read the books or not.”

“Yeah but it always helps to be prepared. Plus, I like knowing what to expect.” He rubbed a hand over her newly rounded belly, “you should feel them kicking soon. Well, according to –”

“The baby book?” she interrupted teasingly. Steve simply rolled his eyes.

They sat together quietly for a short while, both too comfortable to even turn on the wireless. Peggy’s eyes were starting to drift closed so he nudged her gently.

“Hey, why don’t we go dancing this weekend?”

“Steve Rogers, are you asking me out on a date?” she said in mock surprise.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.”

“When did you become so bold?”

“Well I figured, what dame could say no to a date with the famous Captain America?” he said with feigned confidence, at which Peggy kicked him lightly.

“I take it that’s a yes, then?” he grinned.

“This Saturday, at the Stork Club.”

..............

The next day Peggy and Steve decided to head over to the diner for lunch, it was Steve’s idea, and Peggy was more than happy to oblige, especially since they knew Angie would be working that day. They sat in their usual booth and playfully nudged each other’s legs under the table while they waited to be served.

“You think I can’t see what’s going on under that table,” Angie teased as she came over, and Steve noticed Peggy’s cheeks redden slightly. “So what can I get you both?”

Steve looked to Peggy, who was biting her lip as she looked over the menu she must know from memory by now. “I can’t decide between Beef Stew or Ham and Beans,” she announced.

“Then get both,” he replied.

“I can’t get two meals Steve, don’t be absurd.”

“Of course you can, you’re eating for two now,” he grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Not literally.”

“He’s right though Peg, you need to make sure you eat plenty. My cousin Lorna, she only ate two meals a day when she was expecting, said she didn’t want to get fat, and I can’t say it didn’t work, she was tiny, but the baby that came out of her,” Angie shook her head as her nose screwed up in distaste, “it was such an ugly little thing.”

“Thank you Angie, I’ll bear that in mind.” Steve could hear the note of sarcasm in Peggy’s tone.

“If you’re worried about not being able to finish two meals, I’ll gladly eat what you leave,” he told her.

Peggy looked from him to Angie before she conceded. “Oh alright then, you two are as bad as each other.”

They didn’t have to wait long for Angie to bring over the large amount of food the two of them had ordered, and they finished it all in a surprisingly short amount of time.

When Angie came back to clear their plates she paused, taking a moment to really look at Peggy. “You’re really starting to show now, I noticed it when you walked in. We ought to go shopping soon.”

“You can only tell from certain angles, it’s still not really –”

“It looks good on you.”

Peggy smiled beautifully in response.

After their plates had been cleared Peggy excused herself and barely a moment later Angie slid into the seat opposite Steve. To his surprise she had a stern look on her face. She stared him down for a few long seconds before he guessed what was coming, having learned from experience.

“You better take real good care of her, I know some husbands don’t pay much attention to their wives when they’re in the family way, a lot of my cousins acted like assholes, found themselves a little something on the side, but I swear to God, if I hear anything about you not treating her right,” her voice was threatening enough that there was no need to verbalise what kind of punishment she had in mind.

It reminded Steve a lot of the talk Angie had given him shortly before he’d married Peggy. He’d been surprised then at how intimidating Angie Martinelli could be when she wanted to be, and he was still surprised now at how threatened he felt by someone a good number of inches shorter than him.

“I promise you Angie, I would never dream of treating Peggy like that. I love her more than anything, I couldn’t bear to hurt her.” Angie was still glaring at him, her expression fixed in place. “Besides, if I ever stepped out of line like that, you know just as well as I do what she’s capable of, and, well, it wouldn’t be the first time she’s shot at me.” That brought a smile to her face.

“Good, well I didn’t think you were the type to do that sorta thing, but you never know until it’s too late,” she shrugged and left him alone to wait for Peggy.

..............

By the time the night of their date came round, any excitement Peggy had had over her recently visible bump had swiftly evaporated. As she still felt it was too early to purchase maternity clothes, Peggy was doing her best to fit into what she still could from amongst the clothes she already had. What bump she had could still be mistaken for a bad case of bloating if her clothes weren’t the right style to accentuate it, and in more roomy dresses it was barely noticeable at all, leaving her feeling extremely frumpy. What was noticeable, however, were her swollen ankles and slightly fuller face. What others told her would be a “pregnancy glow” was in fact an oily sheen similar to the kind she hadn’t had to deal with since her teenage years. The nausea had finally let up, mercifully, but in its place was indigestion and an unusual bubbling feeling in her stomach. Her moods were another thing, she frequently found herself snapping at Steve. Though he was incredibly understanding, she knew it wasn’t fun for him.

It had taken Peggy longer than usual to get ready for her date with Steve, considering she had such difficulty finding a dress that fitted her well. After trying on nearly half her wardrobe before finding something suitable, and then having to adjust her makeup routine to attempt to counteract the extra shine to her face, Peggy was in a foul mood.

She emerged from their bedroom to find Steve waiting for her in their small living room. He looked as heartbreakingly beautiful as he always did, his hair neatly combed and smart shirt fitting his muscular form perfectly. But rather than relishing in how handsome her husband looked, as she often did, in the mood she was in it made her heart sink.

“You look beautiful,” he smiled at her.

“You don’t need to humour me Steve, I am in possession of a mirror.” She saw confusion cross his face before she turned away, checking she’d put her keys in the small decorative handbag she’d chosen to bring. She was grateful to have at least one item that wasn’t dependent on the shape of her changing body.

As she rummaged through her bag she felt Steve place his hands on her shoulders. “I’m not humouring you, I meant it.”

She turned to face him, prepared to brush it off, but the look on her face must have given away how awful she felt.

“What’s wrong?”

Peggy hesitated for a moment, “I don’t feel quite myself,” she admitted.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean my best dresses don’t fit me, my makeup looks off, I just don’t feel…” she shrugged her shoulders in exasperation.

“Why don’t you take up Angie’s offer to go shopping for new clothes?” he suggested, rubbing his hand up and down her arm soothingly. “Although I think this looks beautiful on you,” he added, as his hand gently brushed over the delicate sleeve of her emerald green dress.

“You say that about most of my outfits,” she replied, rolling her eyes.

“Well, you look beautiful in most outfits.” She felt his lips at her ear, “as well as out of them.” That made her laugh, a smile spreading across her face. Steve trailed soft kisses across her cheekbone, along her jawline, and down her neck, and each “I love you” he murmured between his kisses slowly began to lift her mood.

Steve tightened his embrace around her so she patted his arm gently, “Come on then, we ought to get going if we want to have a reasonable amount of time for dancing.”

“We could just stay here if you want?” he murmured as he pressed his lips to her collarbone.

“Afraid your dancing skills aren’t up to scratch?” she teased.

“A student is only as good as their teacher,” he replied cheekily, earning him a good thump on the arm.

..............

As it turned out a night spent in Steve’s arms as they spun around the dance floor was exactly what Peggy needed to take her mind off of the feeling that her body wasn’t entirely her own anymore. Steve’s loving gaze and the way he bit down on his bottom lip ever so gently as she spun in his arms left little room in her head for much else.

Though she had begun to feel much more comfortable over the course of the night, the bubbling pangs of digestive trouble that had been bothering her on and off for the past few days made a reappearance. But she pushed it to the back of her mind, instead allowing her head to be filled with the way Steve’s hands gripped her waist tightly and pulled her close, a hungry look in his eyes as he appeared to momentarily forget they were in the middle of a crowded room.

..............

The vibrant atmosphere if the Stork Club seemed a world away when they were back in their apartment later that night. Sat comfortably in her favourite armchair, Peggy was drinking a cup of Earl Grey, a staple in her night time routine, while Steve immersed himself in yet another baby book. She wasn’t sure where he’d managed to find so many, unless he had begun rereading them, which wouldn’t surprise her.

“Hey Peg, did you know the baby’s kicks don’t really feel like kicks at first?”

“Oh?” she didn’t look up from the Agatha Christie she was a third of the way through.

“Yeah, a lot of women mistake it for problems with digestion or hunger pangs.”

That got Peggy’s attention, she froze as she recalled the bubbling sensation she’d assumed had been linked to indigestion. As though right on cue she felt another small flutter in her lower abdomen, and her hand moved instinctively to search for where she’d felt the small movements. As she felt the definite stirring beneath her hand, much gentler against her palm than it felt from within, but still just about distinguishable, she wondered how it hadn’t occurred to her before. She stayed perfectly still for a moment as she focused on the gentle fluttering under her hand.

Though Peggy had been perfectly aware that there was a small life growing inside of her, it hadn’t felt entirely real until she’d felt it move for itself. The reality and enormity of it all began to dawn on her. What was even more absurd was that it had been entirely by accident.

She finally looked up to see Steve was completely oblivious, still entirely engrossed in his book.

“Darling, will you come here for a moment?”

He obediently put his book down and came over to her, sitting down on the floor by her feet.

“Yeah?” he looked up at her. Not knowing what to say she simply took his hand and pulled it towards her, placing it where her own hand had just been.

“Can you feel anything?”

Steve’s eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated, his hand moving slightly as he tried to feel around for any movement. He shook his head, disappointment clear on his face. “But you felt something?” he met her eyes, sounding slightly hopeful.

“I think so, it’s hard to tell but I – oh,” she felt another small flutter, and from the look of shock mixed with wonder on Steve’s face, it appeared he had felt it too.

“I felt that one Peg, I felt our kid move in there,” he looked at her with the most adoring expression, and she couldn’t help but reach out to stroke her fingers across his cheek.

“It’s rather odd, isn’t it?”

Steve vigorously nodded in agreement, as he rose up onto his knees and leant forward to kiss her bump softly. “I love you,” he murmured, his lips still against her stomach.

“I’m sure the scone I ate earlier loves you back.”

“I’m talking to the –” but Peggy’s laughter interrupted him, and Steve just shook his head as he sighed loudly. “I hope you’re not as smart-mouthed as your mother,” he spoke to her bump again, “though I do love her for it.”

For the rest of the evening Steve could barely keep his hands off of Peggy. In addition to the usual affection he frequently showered her with – kissing her cheek, squeezing her thigh, a gentle hand on the small of her back – he couldn’t seem to stop touching her bump. Though the movements she had felt were far from frequent, Steve still hopefully placed his hand on the spot where he’d first felt their child moving.

If she hadn’t known it for certain already, the amount of affection Steve already showed for the small life inside of her would have made Peggy sure of what an incredible father he was going to make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and messages are what motivate me to keep writing, so please let me know what you think of this story!
> 
> My tumblr is http://rachlovesligers.tumblr.com/ for anyone who's interested.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for some mild violence in this chapter. (I think it's pretty mild, but don't hesitate to let me know if you think it needs a stronger warning.)

After having felt the small flutter of their child kicking for the first time it didn’t take long for the movements to become much stronger and much more regular. In addition to the frequent movements she now felt, Peggy’s bump had gradually become more prominent. She’d had to take out the waistlines on some of her clothes, and even purchased a few new dresses.

While she couldn’t go on missions anymore there was still plenty of work to be done back at the office. The SSR were still in possession of the tesseract that had been recovered with Steve, though whether their enemies were aware of that information remained unclear. They’d begun to plan an attack on the remaining Hydra units with the Howling Commandos, but an extremely quiet spell from Hydra had made it difficult to locate them, and their plans had been thrown off. The activity that had alerted them to Hydra’s re-emergence had ceased entirely and it appeared as though they’d been wiped out of their own accord, though they all knew better than to believe that. It did, however, make Peggy feel slightly uneasy, as their silence seemed to suggest they had been made aware that the SSR was watching them.

In the weapons room Peggy, Steve and Bucky were discussing their theories about Hydra’s next move, Steve was entertaining the idea that they’d been scared off, if they’d somehow gotten wind of their plans the strength of the reunited Howling Commandos may have sent them back into hiding, at least until they could strengthen their own unit. Bucky, however, was certain their silence meant nothing of the sort, wary of the organisation that had caused him so much pain, he maintained that they were lying low in preparation for a big attack. Peggy knew it was best to consider all possible explanations.

Without warning their conversation was cut short by the screeching bleep of the SSR sirens and the flashing red light that accompanied it. The alarm had been put in place to signal an infiltration, and only a moment later Chief Davies, Dooley’s successor, was at the door, “We’ve been infiltrated by Hydra, Rogers, we need you up front!” he nodded to Peggy before running out of sight.

Peggy’s training kicked in instantly, her mind already racing through tactics and what their opponent’s most likely strategy would be, until a solid kick from within in her reminded her of a slight complication to her plans. She looked down with a quiet “oh” as she realised.

“What should we do?” Steve asked her with sheer panic on his face.

She was trying to imagine all possible exit routes and calculate the time it would take to get to each one, as well as the likelihood of each one being blocked, when he spoke again.

“I can stay here –”

“No,” she interrupted, “you’re needed up front, I’ll be safe in here.” Although she was unsure of just how many people Hydra had sent, Steve and a decent team of agents would likely be enough to hold them off, and if one or two were to get past, well, she was in a room full of weapons. It was probably best to try and avoid becoming involved in a physical fight, but her ability to shoot well had not been hampered.

Steve wasn’t usually one to treat her like she needed protecting, but he still looked a little uneasy. Under normal circumstances she’d be running up there to fight by his side, he often looked to her for advice or followed her orders if need be, but the situation was different now, and as much as she hated sitting on the side-lines, she knew it was best.

Bucky stepped forward, “I’ll stay down here,” he picked up the handgun on the table in front of him as if to illustrate his intention.

“We’ll be alright,” she told Steve firmly.

He seemed to make his mind up nodded, before stepping forward to kiss her on the forehead, “Stay safe.”

“You too,” she looked him in the eyes sternly as she replied.

Once Steve had left she turned to Bucky. “You know I don’t need protecting, don’t you?”

He laughed, “Of course I do, if anything you’ll be the one saving my ass.”

..............

For a while all they could hear were gun shots and shouts, it was extremely difficult to sit patiently knowing what was going on just a few floors above. It seemed to be tough for Bucky too, Peggy noticed the way he fidgeted, his hands fiddling with the gun still in them.

“You can go up there if you want –” she began to offer but he shook his head vigorously.

The sounds of fighting continued for a short while longer before it eventually slowed to a stop. Peggy and Bucky looked to each other, unsure whether the quiet was a good sign or not. But their uncertainty didn’t last long as they heard the sound of whispers just outside the door, in what sounded like German, and Peggy’s heart jumped into her throat. The door knob turned slowly and Peggy and Bucky both stood with their guns raised, aimed towards it. The surprised looks on the faces of the two men who entered made it clear they had expected to find the room empty, and they immediately raised their hands at the sight of the weapons pointed towards them.

“We mean you no harm,” the first man spoke in English. He was much heavier than his partner, who appeared almost cowering behind him, and his worn features that suggested he’d seen a fair bit of the war himself. He looked directly at Bucky, “we are simply here to collect something.”

“And what is it you are here to collect?” Peggy asked, her voice calm.

“You took something from us, something extremely valuable.”

Peggy had a good idea of what he was referring to, but placing the tesseract right back into the hands of Hydra was not something she had any intention of doing. “I’m afraid I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That does not matter, we can find it ourselves.” His voice had begun to take on a more threatening tone, and she could see Bucky’s hands tightening around his gun, finger wrapping around the trigger.

“I’m sorry but we can’t let you do that,” Peggy replied, injecting a stronger tone into her voice.

“Then I suppose we must insist,” he smiled, though it was more threatening than genuine. The man reached for his gun but before his hand was even fully lowered she heard the loud bang of Bucky’s gun firing. The man dropped to the floor but his partner was quick to react, Peggy aimed her gun towards him but she wasn’t fast enough. He was at Bucky’s side and launched himself towards him, pushing Bucky into her and bringing all three of them down to the concrete floor with a thud. Bucky’s gun had slipped out of his hand as he fell and skidded out of his reach, but he didn’t hesitate to throw their attacker off of them, sending him sliding across the floor.

Immediately Bucky was across the room and on top of him, hands at his throat, but the man beneath him was quick and clearly much stronger than his slight figure would suggest. In a fraction of a second he had managed to wrap his leg around Bucky’s waist and roll them so he was on top, he got in a solid punch to Bucky’s face before his hands were around his neck, tightening disturbingly. Bucky was putting up a hell of a fight, but his shock had put him at a disadvantage. Peggy reached for her gun which she’d managed to keep in her grip as they fell, she had a clear shot at their attacker, assuming they remained in their current positions. It seemed as though Bucky was attempting to flip them back over, but she didn’t have time to hesitate, with the man’s hands still tightening around Bucky’s throat. She took the shot and held her breath. The man collapsed on top of Bucky, and she exhaled loudly in relief.

Bucky pushed the man’s limp body off of him before running to her side. He still had a panicked look on his face and she wondered if he realised the danger was gone. “Are you alright?” his voice was tense.

“Yes, I’m not the one who was being strangled by a Hydra agent only moments ago.”

“But you fell pretty hard, are you hurt?”

Then she understood his panic, the fall had hurt but not particularly badly, the baby was still kicking, considerably more than usual actually, most likely due to her increased heart rate, but she felt alright. She reassured Bucky and his anxiety seemed to ease a little, she was about to ask him to help her up when she heard a familiar voice at the door.

“Peggy!” Steve came running towards them and crouched down beside her. The panic on his face matched Bucky’s but he appeared uninjured. Steve’s hands wavered over her, as though he was unsure what to do with them. “Are you hurt?”

Peggy wrapped her hand around Steve’s to calm him before answering, “I’m perfectly fine, the Hydra agent knocked both Bucky and me to the floor, but he’s been taken care of,” she nodded towards the body slumped on the floor, “now will you help me up?”

Steve tightened his grip on Peggy’s hand and pulled her up with him.

“I assume the rest of the intruders have been dealt with,” she asked Steve.

“Yeah, there were a lot more than I was expecting, but they’ve all been captured or killed, we’ll hopefully be able to get some answers out of the ones still alive. I didn’t realise any had managed to slip through us,” his brows furrowed together, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” she reassured him.

..............

Both Steve and Bucky escorted Peggy to the medical room within the SSR office, despite her insistence that she felt perfectly alright. As unnecessary as it felt being walked to the medical room for simply falling to the floor, she supposed where her and Steve’s unborn child was involved it was probably best to err on the side of caution, though of course she’d never admit that to them.

Steve looked more than a little dismayed at being told sternly to wait outside while she was examined, but he nodded his head politely and followed the doctor’s instructions as Peggy was led into the examining room.

As she’d expected the doctor confirmed that all was fine, they merely advised she got some rest and took it easy for a while. Well, they’d been a little stricter with instructions including no “undue exertion”, but that was open for interpretation.

She found Steve and Bucky waiting outside, and the relief was clear on both their faces when she repeated what she’d been told. She turned to Bucky, “Are you sure you don’t need to be checked over? He got in quite a punch,” she noted the bruise beginning to form across his cheekbone.

“I’m fine,” he shook his head, “I’m sure it looked much worse than it felt.” She was well aware of his aversion to medical professionals, so she didn’t push the matter. “Thank you, by the way for, you know, saving my ass,” he chuckled dryly as he repeated his words from earlier.

“Don’t mention it,” she replied with a smile, and Bucky excused himself, leaving her and Steve alone together.

Steve cautiously reached out to fix a strand of Peggy’s hair that had fallen out of place, he was avoiding making direct eye contact with her and she got the sense he was building up to say something.

“You’d better not be about to tell me you don’t think it’s safe for me to continue working here,” she cautioned.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he replied sincerely.

“Well good, because I’m nowhere near ready to stop working yet. I have every intention of continuing until I’m physically unable to make it into work.”

“I wouldn’t have expected any different,” he sighed. “Although the doctor did make it quite clear you need to take it easy, so maybe…” he hesitated and Peggy raised an eyebrow. “Maybe just, try to be a little more cautious than usual?”

She gasped in mock horror, “Steve Rogers giving lectures on caution?”

He smiled, looking down, “I see your point, I’ll make an effort to be more careful as well, I want our kid to have both their parents around, I imagine they’ll be a handful if they take after the two of us.”

“So no more running games?”

He laughed, “Those can get pretty brutal.” Peggy nodded in agreement, remembering the time she’d shoved him out of her way in her desperation to beat him to the finish line, only to slip on the corner of the rug and bash her shoulder on the edge of the coffee table. Of course Steve’s panicked concern as he’d rushed over to check how badly she was hurt had given her the opportunity she’d needed to rush past him to the finish line and win the game. “You can have a break from losing all the time,” he added.

She whacked him on the chest, “I win almost every time!”

“That’s what I let you think, it’s much easier that way,” he grinned cheekily.

She refused to dignify that with a response.

They stood together quietly for another moment before Steve reached out and placed his hand on her bump, his thumb skimming over her gently. The baby was still kicking, though slightly less enthusiastically as they had been earlier, so she moved Steve’s hand across her stomach, positioning it where the soft kicks could be felt most clearly. She didn’t miss the way Steve’s body relaxed as he felt their baby move, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly, the worry lines between his brows becoming slightly less pronounced.

Steve looked up but left his hand where it was, “Why don’t we head home?”

“It’s barely two o’clock.”

He shrugged his shoulders, “I think we’ve earned an afternoon off.” And she couldn’t argue with that.

..............

As Steve prepared dinner that evening he couldn’t stop thinking about how much his and Peggy’s lives had already begun to change. The attack on the SSR had made it clear how much a baby was going to alter their working lives, it added an extra layer of fear, it was a vulnerability that hadn’t existed before. He was thankful the outcome of the attack hadn’t been worse, and pushed away thoughts of what might’ve happened.

Steve was busy peeling potatoes when he heard Peggy enter the kitchen. “I thought you were having a lie down?” he said without turning around, he wasn’t surprised she hadn’t managed to stay in bed for longer than ten minutes.

“I hardly see the point.”

“The point is you could’ve been badly injured today, and the doctor advised you to get some rest.” He turned to face her and could already see a smile playing on her lips. “Go and lie down, I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

“You’re quite adorable when you try to boss me around.”

“Go and lie down,” she laughed at his attempt at an authoritative tone. He was good at being authoritative when he was Captain America, out in the field, but it never quite seemed to work when he was at home with Peggy. But he continued to try, nonetheless, “That’s an order, Agent!”

“What makes you think you can give me orders?” he could see she was holding back a laugh.

“I outrank you, remember?”

She walked over to him and placed her hands on his hips, “And how are you going to punish me for being disobedient?”

“I’m being serious, go and lie down.”

She pushed her hand under his shirt, skimming it across the skin above his waistband, “Are you coming with me?”

“Oh alright, fine!” he said, exasperated as she laughed.

He followed Peggy into their bedroom where she turned and looked at him expectantly. Steve simply took her hand and led her over to the bed, pulling her down onto it. He wrapped his arms around her and, cuddling her close, began to gently play with her hair, something he knew relaxed her.

It was a short moment before he heard her sigh impatiently. “Is this all?”

“Yep, take it or leave it.”

She didn’t protest, so he carried on softly running his fingers through her hair. It didn’t take long for her eyelids to droop and her breathing to become slow and even, and Steve’s mind went back to the half peeled potatoes sitting on the counter. From the way she was curled around him he guessed moving would probably wake her, so he didn’t dare risk it now that she was finally resting. He leant down to kiss Peggy on the forehead, dinner could wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love getting comments and messages about this story, please let me know what you think, it's a great help when I'm trying to motivate myself to write more!
> 
> My tumblr is http://rachlovesligers.tumblr.com/ for anyone who's interested.


	6. Chapter 6

Hydra was one problem Peggy had thought she’d seen the end of long ago, so their re-emergence was incredibly frustrating, to say the least. With the information they’d managed to obtain from their hostages, they were getting closer to finding the location of Hydra’s new base.

Peggy’s mind was trying to piece everything together and come up with some kind of plan as to their next step, when she was interrupted by her stomach growling. It was barely 11 o’clock and she’d already had a few snacks since breakfast, it didn’t make sense for her to be hungry already. A glance at the biscuit tin she kept on the shelf in her office reminded her that she’d eaten the last one early this morning, already peckish after the journey to work. She contemplated popping out to pick more up, but decided it was too close to lunch time. She’d be better off waiting, and concentrating on her work would likely be enough to distract her, so she put her head down and got back to work, ignoring the protests her stomach made.

Half an hour later – half an hour of poor concentration and not much success with ignoring her growling stomach – Steve knocked on her office door. His smile was bright as he handed her another report. She flicked through it, but it didn’t seem to be anything particularly pressing.

“This needed to be hand delivered?” she raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, no,” he confessed, “but I wanted to see you.”

Before Peggy could respond her stomach growled loudly.

“Are you hungry?” Steve asked, moving towards the biscuit tin.

“Yes, it’s empty though,” she replied almost wistfully.

“That was full yesterday! You’re gonna catch up with me at this rate,” he teased, referring to the exceedingly high amount of food he needed to consume in order to keep up with his increased metabolism.

“Yes, well, apparently it takes rather a lot to keep this baby well fed. I wonder where they get that from?”

Steve smiled but something about it seemed off, it didn’t quite reach his eyes and under her questioning gaze he shifted uncomfortably and looked down.

“Steve?”

He looked up with a smile that was not dissimilar from his “Captain America” smile, one that wasn’t entirely genuine. “Why don’t I go get you some food?”

She wasn’t going to push him, Steve was as stubborn as she was and if something was bothering him he wouldn’t tell her until he was ready to. “I can’t concentrate anyway, what do you say we go for an early lunch?”

..............

The short walk across the building that it took to get from Steve’s office to Peggy’s had become such a familiar route to Steve that he was certain he could do it blindfolded. Their colleagues had long gotten used to seeing Steve make the journey more than was probably necessary – though always under the guise of delivering something or acquiring work-related information – so they rarely looked up to give him knowing looks or wink at him anymore. Although today, as he walked that familiar route with a stack of boxes in his arms, he got more than a few confused glances.

Since his hands were full Steve kicked the door softly in place of a knock. He heard Peggy’s crisp reply of “come in” before he called out.

“I’m gonna need you to come and open it for me Peg.”

He smiled to himself as he heard her sigh audibly.

She opened the door and surprise crossed her face at the unexpected stack of boxes he carried. “What on earth is all this?”

“Special delivery for Agent Carter,” he announced, carrying them into her office. “Where do you want these?” he turned to ask her.

“Well I’d rather like to know what’s in them before you dump them in my office.”

“Let me put them down and I’ll show you.” Steve was excited to show her what he’d brought for her, so he took them over to a relatively empty corner in her small office and put them down before opening the box on top. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Peggy leaning over his shoulder as he lifted the lid off, revealing his surprise for her.

He heard her gasp and felt her hand on his shoulder before he turned to see her excited smile.

“How on earth did you get a hold of custard creams?”

“It only takes a few well-placed bribes people are incredibly willing to do favours.”

“Oh stop.”

“Alright, I called Howard,” he admitted, “though I can’t promise no bribes were involved on his end.”

He’d had the idea of buying a small stockpile of snacks for Peggy to keep in her office for a while, noticing how the baby seemed to be taking after him in regards to their appetite. But it wasn’t until she’d made an offhanded comment about being desperate for “real biscuits” that he’d had the idea of getting her some treats from England, and admittedly had gotten slightly carried away. He wasn’t sure of the logistics involved in shipping food across continents, but all it had taken was one phone call to Howard Stark and a special delivery was on route to New York. He hadn’t asked Howard what he’d had to do in order to get them shipped over so quickly.

Peggy leaned forward and started pulling out the various boxes and tins. “You got bourbons too!” She began stacking them on her desk, pushing her neglected piles of filing out of the way. “And chocolate digestives!” she beamed at him, “how did you know all my favourites?”

Steve scratched the back of his neck, suddenly a little self-conscious, “I remembered you telling me about them during the war, how you missed them.”

Peggy leaned over to kiss him gently on the cheek, “thank you.”

She continued to empty the contents of the boxes, finding gaps on her shelves once her desk had been filled. Steve delighted in her smile every time she came across something new.

“Jacob’s cream crackers?” she held the box up to him, questioningly.

“In case you got sick of all this sweet stuff and wanted something savoury,” he shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll never be able to finish all this Steve, you’ll have to help me.”

“I think I can cope with that,” he smiled, “I never did get to try custard creams when I was over there.”

Peggy put the box in her hand down and walked over to him, “I’ll have to think of a way to thank you,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

He shook his head, “you don’t need to, this was a gift.”

“Even so,” she leaned into him and Steve reached out to wrap his arms around her. Her bump was pressed snugly against him, still not too big to stop Peggy from leaning forward to press her lips to his. He leaned into the kiss and felt her lips part under his, soft and warm and eager. He felt Peggy’s hand trail down to the small of his back, where she paused to trace circles with her fingers. Steve lifted his hand to cup Peggy’s cheek, rubbing his thumb gently across her cheekbone.

To his surprise he felt Peggy’s hand move further down him while she caught his bottom lip gently between her teeth, and he couldn’t help the moan that escaped him as she slowly released it. Before he had a chance to question her, the hand she’d been moving down his back ran slowly over his hips and round to his front, where she tucked it under his waist band and pulled at his shirt until there was just enough room for her to slip her hand underneath. His breathing stuttered as he felt her fingers smoothing across his stomach, the muscles underneath fluttering.

His lips were still on hers so he pulled back just enough to be able to look at her. “Peggy?”

Her only reply was to take hold of his belt as she moved backwards, pulling him with her until she was resting against her desk, his body pressed up against hers. Peggy reached behind her to clear some space on her desk, and even the small thump of boxes falling to the floor wasn’t enough to distract him from her lips. He wasn’t sure how far she wanted to take things, until she began to unbuckle his belt.

Steve reached down and placed his hands under Peggy’s thighs, she seemed to realise what he was doing and wrapped her arms around his neck so he could lift her, ever so gently, onto her desk. Gentle and slow wasn’t their usual style, but circumstances had changed, and though the doctor had assured them it was perfectly safe, Steve was still a little cautious.

“It’s been a while since we’ve, you know, in here,” Steve said between kisses.

“Fondued in my office?” she teased him.

“Yes, that.”

“I know,” she agreed, “and it’s a damn shame.”

They continued kissing for a few minutes while their hands roamed over each other. Peggy had undone most of Steve’s shirt buttons and untucked it from his pants before she leaned closer to whisper in his ear, “Did you lock the door, darling?”

He shook his head slowly, his eyes half lidded and mouth hanging open. He was sure he must’ve looked ridiculous, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care.

“I think you ought to,” Peggy said with a wicked smile.

..............

Despite the fact that her office was now stocked full with more food than she was likely to manage, Steve still suggested they go for lunch at the diner. Though she returned from lunch to find yet another surprise, as none other than Howard Stark was sat at her desk. He’d clearly made himself at home, his feet up on the desk, an open file in his hand which he no doubt was not authorised to be reading.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Howard kept his eyes on the file in his hands, “I gotta be honest Peg, I’m a little offended I wasn’t you first call when you found out the good news.” When she didn’t respond he looked up with that mischievous grin of his, “I’m going to be an uncle!”

“Oh please.”

“So, have you located Hydra’s new base yet?” He said it as though he was asking about the location of a new restaurant, not the base of an ex-Nazi organisation.

“Who told you about that?”

“Steve did.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“When he called me to ask a favour, which I can see was well received,” he gestured to the boxes that surrounded him, “it came up, so I thought I’d come down here to find out why I haven’t been invited to the party?”

Peggy rolled her eyes. “Well, quite frankly, we weren’t entirely sure where you were, one week the papers have a picture of you in the south of France, the next it’s Argentina, it’s difficult to keep track.”

“You could’ve contacted me through Jarvis.” His playful tone had turned slightly softer, and she wondered if he wasn’t talking about Hydra anymore. Perhaps he hadn’t been entirely joking about feeling offended that she hadn’t told him she was expecting.

“Well, you’re here now.”

His entire demeanour changed from hurt to excited in an instant, “Yes, I’m here! And ready to take up my duties as godfather!”

“Oh not you as well, I’ve already had half the commandos fighting over that position.”

As frustrating as Howard could be at times, Peggy really did have a lot of fun when she was with him. They sat for quite some time in her office while Howard filled her in what he’d been doing – mostly vacationing, with sporadic trips back to the US whenever an idea for a new invention struck him. Peggy told him bits and pieces about her work, the story of how she and Steve had found out they were going to be parents, and what their plans were. He offered to buy them a nice little house in the suburbs; she simply laughed at the suggestion. When she told him that the baby was kicking frequently he scrunched his nose up, and responded with “the kid already sounds like hard work.”

After most of the afternoon had gone Howard made his excuses – something about a plane leaving for Los Angeles – and got up to leave.

“I’ll visit more often from now on Peg, I promise.”

“It’s polite to call ahead,” she teased.

“Who doesn’t love a surprise?”

She rolled her eyes for what must’ve been the tenth time that afternoon, before he kissed her cheek and pulled her into a hug. “I’m really happy for you Peggy, truly.”

She was glad Howard couldn’t see her face as a wave of affection for him swept over her.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” He felt around in his jacket pockets for a moment before pulling out a battered piece of paper. He unfolded it and held it out to Peggy, “I’ve drawn up some quick sketches for a state of the art, custom built crib for the little tyke. It’ll monitor temperature and adjust it accordingly. This button here,” he pointed to a moon shaped button, “plays lullabies, it’ll send the kid right off to sleep, and this here – this is my favourite part – is the automatic, hands-free diaper-changer!” He smiled at Peggy expectantly.

“The what?”

“Automatic diaper-changer, first one in the country – no – in the world! Stocked with clean diapers, it senses the change in smell, then these mechanical hands here –”

“Yes I get the idea,” Peggy stopped him, eyeing the intimidating-looking metal claws Howard had drawn emerging from a hole at the end of the cot.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” You’ll never have to touch a dirty diaper in your life.”

“You want to build a robot to change my child’s nappies for me?”

“Not a robot, just robotic arms.”

“I think I’ll pass.”

“At least let me show you the ideas I have for nursing chair, it’ll have a pump for your breasts –”

Peggy’s icy glare was enough to get across her answer.

“Fine, I’ll go show my ideas to Steve.” He shoved the sketch back into his pocket, “at least he appreciates my genius,” he yelled back as he walked out the door.

..............

Steve was rather proud of the casserole he’d cooked for dinner. He’d always been decent at cooking, but the depression and then rationing during the war had meant he’d never been able to really make the most of his skills, having been so limited with the ingredients he could use.

He looked up to see how Peggy was finding it, but a jolt ran through him when he saw her face was scrunched up in pain.

“Peggy?”

She took a breath and looked up at him with a smile, though it seemed a little tight.

“Everything alright?”

“Yes, it’s just my blasted back, it’s been aching all afternoon.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

She shook her head and he nodded, looking back down at the table.

“What’s wrong?” Peggy asked.

Steve kept his eyes on his food, moving it around the plate, “it’s nothing.”

He felt Peggy nudge his leg under the table. “Steve, talk to me.”

He carried on chopping up his food while he spoke in an effort to seem casual, but he doubted Peggy bought it. “What you said the other day, about the baby inheriting my appetite, it got me thinking about what other traits the baby might have inherited from me, well, from the serum specifically.”

“Go on.” She waited for him to elaborate.

“I’m worried that if the baby inherits my enhanced strength as well, it could become a problem, when you’re further along and the baby’s bigger,” he looked down again, “I’m scared it could become dangerous for you,” he finished quietly.

“Oh Steve.”

He looked up at her apologetically, and she reached across the table to hold his hand.

“You mustn’t worry about that.”

“But I do,” he admitted quietly.

“I know it’s difficult going into this without at least having Dr Erskine’s knowledge to help us, but there’s no use in worrying over things you can’t control.” She squeezed his hand. “Besides, this baby is a mixture of both of us, not just you, so it’s unlikely they’ll inherit the full dose.”

He nodded.

“If they get stronger later, we can cross that bridge when we come to it. But Steve,” he looked up at her, “there are plenty of good things that could come from our child inheriting elements of the serum. Your immunity from illness, your ability to heal quickly. It almost makes it worth the amount I have to eat to keep up with this baby’s appetite.”

He laughed then, and kissed the back of her hand softly. “Mm yeah, sorry about that.” Though letting go of his worries was easier said than done, he knew Peggy was right. The serum had the potential to improve their baby’s life, and it was important to focus on that.

Steve held Peggy’s hand against his cheek. “How about I give you a back massage after we’ve finished?”

“That sounds lovely,” she sighed.

..............

After Steve had fulfilled his promise of a back massage they’d washed the dishes together, Peggy insisting that since Steve had cooked, she ought to be the one doing it, while Steve insisted that since Peggy was pregnant, he ought to do it. Being as stubborn as each other, they’d ended up sharing the task. Peggy finished first, having been the one washing, and went to lounge across the sofa while Steve finished putting away the last few things. After a relatively peaceful day with not too much excessive movement from their child, the baby was now in full swing, and she was beginning to feel rather like a human punching bag. She groaned and Steve emerged from the kitchen, looking absolutely adorable in his apron.

“Steve darling, will you tell your child to stop kicking me?”

He walked over to her, “So they’re only _my_ child now?”

“When they’re being difficult, yes,” she teased.

He knelt down beside her and placed his hands over her bump, “can I?” She nodded and Steve untucked her shirt and gently pulled down the waistband of her skirt, exposing her growing bump. He placed his hands on either side and leaned in close.

“Hey kid, we’ve talked about this,” he murmured against her stomach. Peggy ran her fingers through Steve’s hair while he spoke.

“Your mom’s working really hard to grow you in there, and I know she’s tough but it’s not always easy on her. And I know you’re getting bigger, and there’s not a lot of room in there, but I need you to help me out and be a bit gentler, ok?”

As though on cue, Peggy felt a strong kick in the spot Steve’s head was closest to.

He smiled, pressing his lips to her stomach, “not quite what I meant, but we can work on it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a bit longer to finish because I kind of lost motivation for a little while, (and to be honest I'm still not completely sure how I feel about this chapter) but I really do like this story so hopefully I can get back on track with writing it. As always, I love hearing what you you think of this fic!
> 
> My tumblr is http://rachlovesligers.tumblr.com/ for anyone who's interested.


	7. Chapter 7

Peggy’s bump had been obvious for quite a while, drawing a lot of attention from her female friends as well as the women who worked in the “telephone company” that provided cover for the SSR, who all seemed rather forward when it came to touching her swollen middle. Although their attention did come in handy, as it meant she’d been given quite a few items of clothing to accommodate her growing figure.

Peggy had never particularly enjoyed sewing, and found it extremely frustrating at times, but she had a decent enough skill for it. So in addition to borrowing dresses, she had opted to make some of her own maternity clothes. The patterns for maternity dresses talked of “camouflage” and “concealment”, and the illustrations didn’t give much clue that they were dresses for maternity wear, none of the women showing any sort of protruding bump, but Peggy failed to see the point of concealing what became increasingly obvious as each week went by. She made use of clothes she’d never been particularly fond of but couldn’t bear to throw away, having been deeply instilled with the “make do and mend” mentality during the years of living under rationing, and had been able to adapt a few items with some clever sewing tricks and hidden panels of extra fabric.

Steve, having wanted to join in, had discovered a hidden talent for knitting. He’d knitted a rather fetching royal blue cardigan for Peggy, as well as an array of jumpers, hats, and socks for the baby. His excitement over each item he completed was utterly adorable, nothing made Peggy happier than the ear to ear grin that stretched across Steve’s face with each new piece he showed her.

Since the clothes they’d collected for the baby were a collection of their own creations and hand-me-downs from friends, they’d ended up with a wide variety of styles and colours for their child to wear. Something that neither of them minded.

“He’ll look adorable in these,” Peggy commented, holding up a pair of dark brown shorts.

“So they’re a he now?”

“I feel like they’re a boy.”

“I’m convinced we have a little girl in there,” Steve disagreed, placing his hand on her bump.

“Rose thinks it’s a girl from the way I’m carrying, but I’m sure it’s a boy.”

Steve leaned down to plant a row of kisses across her stomach, “I don’t mind, either way.”

“Neither do I,” Peggy replied casually, as she picked up a tiny sock. “But I still think I’m right.”

Steve chuckled.

..............

Peggy woke the next morning to an empty bed. Most days she was the first to get up, since she had a longer routine than Steve, but pregnancy apparently made her much more tired than usual. Waking up last wasn’t without its perks however, as she could hear Steve in the shower, singing a Bing Crosby song, it was one of his favourites. Peggy thought he had a lovely voice, but Steve became shy whenever she commented on it. She smiled to herself as she heard him continue to hum the tune as he turned off the shower.

Steve emerged from the bathroom in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair adorably damp and fluffy from towel drying.

“Finally decided to wake up?”

“I’d hardly call this a late start!” It was only 8 o’clock after all.

He climbed back into bed with her, planting a kiss on her forehead and wrapping an arm around her constantly expanding waist.

“I’m only teasing,” he said, kissing her nose. “I like being able to get in the bathroom first, it means there’s still hot water left for me to use, and there were even some dry towels.” She could feel his smile as his lips trailed down her neck.

“I never use _all_ the hot water!”

He laughed against her collar bone, “just most of it.”

Peggy gave his bottom a good slap for that, but it only made him laugh harder, and he continued trailing kisses across her chest.

..............

After a blissful weekend that involved Steve being far too indulgent, Peggy was still eager to get back to work on Monday. Not to say she didn’t enjoy Steve’s attention, but with their information regarding Hydra’s new units beginning to solidify, Peggy liked being where she felt useful. She relished having a purpose, and there was nothing more satisfying than being able to use her ample skills to track down the remains of an organisation they’d spent the best part of the war trying to bring down.

That excitement, however, was short lived when she arrived at her desk. Something about the arrangement of files seemed off, and she couldn’t quite place her finger on why until she started going through them and realised the file on Arnim Zola was missing. Peggy had been reading over the files of people still alive who’d had ties with Hydra when it was at its peak, though truth be told the numbers were scarce thanks to their work during the war. She searched through her drawers and her shelves, still finding nothing, before Agent Wallace knocked on her still open door.

“Chief’s called a meeting about this Hydra business, wants us all there.”

“Thank you, Agent Wallace.” He turned to leave before she quickly added, “I don’t suppose you’ve seen the Zola file, I left it on my desk and now I can’t seem to find it anywhere.”

“Oh don’t worry, I took care of it.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m dealing with it now, figured I’d make your load a little lighter, help you out a little. You must have enough on your mind as it is, what with all this baby stuff. There’s probably not room for much else.”

Peggy wanted to rebuke him but she was thrown off my how sincere his tone was, there was not an ounce of mockery, it seemed as though he genuinely believed stealing her work straight from her desk amounted to doing her a favour.

“There’s no need to thank me, honey.” He smiled, leaving her feeling both astonished and insulted.

..............

Peggy sat through an entirely unnecessary meeting in which Chief Davies spent an hour talking in circles to cover the fact his team had made little to no progress on verifying a location they’d managed to get out of one of their hostages. Thompson chimed in with the most obvious yet clearly improbable theories as to Hydra’s whereabouts. The Chief at least agreed with Peggy’s suggestion that bringing in the expertise of the 107th to conduct a reconnaissance mission on the location their captive had provided was the best course of action. Though not without looking to Steve for approval first.

After they’d made a start on planning the mission Steve came by Peggy’s office, with a welcome offer to take her out to lunch at the diner. Though they both had long ago made promises that talk of work would be left in the office, neither Peggy nor Steve had ever really been able to keep that promise, both too passionate about their work to be able to leave it at the door. So inevitably the mission to locate Hydra came up.

Peggy, of course, would not be taking part in the mission itself, despite her involvement in its formation and planning. Steve was to lead the mission, and his excitement about getting back in the field with his team of Commandos beside him was palpable. Between mouthfuls of food his face lit up and his hands gestured wildly in excitement as he spoke about Dernier’s new explosives and the team’s new weapons, even though a mission to gather information was unlikely to entail thrilling amounts of action. But despite all indications that it would be a slow and uneventful mission, Peggy still felt a pang of jealousy when Steve talked about it. She looked down at her plate of half-eaten stew, moving the food around with her fork while Steve continued talking.

Steve’s talk of the mission made it strikingly clear that not a single thing had changed for him, career-wise, at least. No one would dare take a file straight from his desk because they assumed his mind was preoccupied with raising children. No one questioned his competence now that he had a child on the way. His safety certainly wasn’t an issue, but would it be once he was the father of a small child? She doubted it would make a difference. For her, on the other hand, it would likely make all the difference. If Chief Dooley had been reluctant to send her into the field because he didn’t want the death of a woman on his conscience, then what man would be willing to risk having the death of the mother of a young child on theirs?

She didn’t notice Steve had stopped talking until he reached across the table to take her hand in his.

“Peggy?”

She shook her head, dispelling her thoughts. “Sorry, carry on.”

“Everything alright?”

“Of course, you were talking about Dernier?”

“Yeah,” Steve’s brows furrowed slightly but he carried on.

..............

Steve and his team had spent days planning, but there was only so much planning that could be done. Peggy had seemed a little off, the spark she usually had when a mission was approaching was missing. But it was understandable, he supposed he would be the same if he was the one forced to sit on the side-lines, relegated to “strategy planning and analysis” after having spent years fighting to be included. Hopefully it was only a temporary situation while her and the baby’s safety had to be taken into consideration, and collecting some solid information on Hydra might bring back some of her excitement until she was able to get back out into the field herself.

Dugan nudged him as the truck came to a stop. “Who’s ready to blow up another Hydra base!” he yelled. Jones rolled his eyes.

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up, I doubt they would’ve given us the exact location of Hydra’s new base. It’s most likely a dead end.” Steve replied as he put on his gloves, and looked up to see disappointment on Dugan’s face. “Or a trap.”

“That’s the spirit!” Dugan replied excitedly, slapping Steve on the back.

The team jumped out of the truck one by one. They’d been dropped a short walk from the abandoned warehouse they were headed for, and under the cover of darkness they hoped they could easily ambush the place.

When they reached their locations, each hidden in pairs around the warehouse, Morita gave Steve the signal to go ahead. Steve’s plan followed his usual style, to walk right up to the place and knock on the front door. The building looked quiet enough from the outside, he couldn’t see any light or hear any movement, but that didn’t necessarily mean it was empty. When his knock brought no response, Steve opted to break the door down. It was a tall, steel door, but only took a few hard shoves to break open. He signalled for Bucky, Dugan, Jones, and Pinky to follow, while the rest stayed outside to keep watch.

As they crept through the building it remained eerily quiet, the only sounds were a distant dripping and the scuttling of rats. After a full thirty minutes of exploring the building and opening numerous doors to empty rooms, Dugan apparently gave up.

“There’s nothing here fellas.”

“We don’t know that yet, we still have a few more rooms to check.” Steve knew it was dangerous to make assumptions too early.

They decided to split up again to complete their search, with Bucky and Steve heading towards the remaining rooms while the three others conducted a final check of the building.

“You think they led us on a wild goose chase just for kicks, or do you think there’s something more to this?” Bucky whispered.

“I don’t know, I’m not sure what they gain from leading us to dead ends.”

“A distraction?”

“Maybe.”

There was still no sign of any people, Hydra or otherwise, no weapons, no maps, nothing. The last room they reached was a small office at the end of the warehouse, it was locked but the door was easily broken. Steve wasn’t surprised to find it as empty as the rest of the place, but two filing cabinets in the corner caught his attention. They were mostly full of old invoices from the days when the building had been a booming automotive company. Bucky helped him sift through the files, looking for any remote indication they hadn’t been sent on a false trail, but they didn’t have much luck.

“I guess Dugan was right,” Steve muttered, making no effort to hide his disappointment.

“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Bucky warned.

“Hey, does this mean anything to anyone?” Morita walked in waving a crumpled piece of paper.

Steve took it from him and glanced over it, it didn’t look like any language he recognised, so he figured it must be written in code. Morita had apparently found it in the bushes outside the back entrance, there didn’t seem to be anything else with it.

“I think it might be coordinates, but I couldn’t say for sure.” Steve would’ve felt better if he’d had Peggy there, she’d taught him some of the decoding methods she knew, but his skill wasn’t as good as hers. Their best bet was to take it back to the office and have it decoded properly.

There was a collective moan of disappointment when Steve announced the mission was concluded and they were all to start heading back to the trucks, bringing anything they felt was significant. Steve began walking towards the exit.

“Can we at least blow something up?” he heard Dugan plead from behind him.

Bucky was the one who replied, with a stern “ _No_.”

“Who the hell put you in charge, Barnes?” Morita retorted.

..............

Steve returned home to the peaceful stillness of his and Peggy’s apartment. She had left a lamp on and a note telling him there was spam hash in the fridge. Peggy wasn’t the greatest cook, but he felt warmed by the gesture, smiling as he ate the half-burnt meal.

When he climbed into bed Peggy pressed up against him, and he was surprised to realise she wasn’t wearing anything other than a pair of tap pants. A quiet noise of surprise escaped him. He relished the feel of her bare breasts pressed against his chest, and now the new sensation of her bump pressed against his stomach.

“Hm?” Peggy murmured in response, one eye opening.

“I didn’t realise you weren’t wearing anything on top.”

“I couldn’t find any clean shirts of yours,” she mumbled sleepily.

“You know there are these things called pyjamas, people often wear them to sleep in.”

She nudged him, “don’t pretend you don’t love me half naked.”

“It’s true, I do much prefer you out of my shirts.”

“Cheeky.”

Steve wrapped his arm around Peggy and cuddled her closer. After a few moments of quiet she spoke again. “How was the mission? No injuries I hope?”

“No, none. The mission was a bust, all we found was a piece of paper with something written in code. There’s a chance it could give us some information about Hydra’s whereabouts, but it’s unlikely.”

“Shame,” Peggy mumbled as her eyes drifted shut.

..............

At work the next day it was back to the drawing board, the mood was a mixture of disappointment in the lack of information from the previous night’s mission, and a renewed enthusiasm to track down Hydra’s real base and start closing in on them.

Agent Thompson didn’t seem too put down about it when Peggy found him in the meeting room where a decoding team had been assembled, most likely because it gave him another chance to try and get on the team so he could be there when they finally did bring down Hydra.

“Finally, our expert codebreaker!” His tone was taunting. “It’s a shame all they got out of last night’s mission was a piece of paper, but I’m sure if you’d been there Marge, it would’ve been a different story.” She hadn’t missed his cautious glance around the room before he’d begun teasing her, he was always careful to make sure Steve wasn’t within earshot when he mocked her these days.

“If only they’d had your expertise on hand, they might’ve beaten some information out of the empty building.” That at least wiped some of the smile off of Thompson’s face.

..............

After a long day and no breakthroughs at work, Peggy was grateful to be back home. Her back ached and her ankles were swollen, and even though she’d not long eaten, she was already hungry again. She searched through the kitchen cupboards with more of an idea of what she didn’t want than what she did want. She was starting to regret not bringing home some of the treats Steve had bought her for her office.

“Are you looking for something in particular?” Steve called from the living room.

“I think I want something sweet, but more fruit than dessert. Maybe tinned peaches?” She left the kitchen to see Steve standing by the door with his coat on, as he leant down to put on his shoes. “Where on earth are you going?”

“To get you some tinned peaches.”

“You can’t go out at nine o’clock in the evening, just because I mentioned I fancied something sweet.”

“Watch me,” he replied with that defiant grin of his.

Peggy rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, “you ridiculous man.”

After Steve had finished putting on his shoes he walked over to her. “Is there anything else you want?”

She hesitated, she didn’t want to encourage this kind of behaviour, going out of his way to meet her every little need was entirely unnecessary and over the top, but peaches weren’t her only craving, and his attentiveness was incredibly endearing.

“Perhaps some pickled onions, if you happen to see them,” she added as if was unimportant, but knowing Steve he’d return with that and most likely some other things she needed but hadn’t thought to ask for.

“You’ve got it,” he kissed her on the lips quickly before leaving.

..............

Steve returned home a short while later with tinned peaches, pickled onions, some chocolate in case Peggy still craved something sweet after the peaches, some more tea bags, his favourite chocolate bar for himself, and a few other items he knew Peggy liked.

“How on earth did you manage to get all of this at this time of night?” Peggy exclaimed as he emptied the bag onto the kitchen table.

“I guess the owners recognised me and wanted to help me out.” He tried to brush it off, still feeling slightly embarrassed at having taken advantage of his status.

“You’re not usually one to play the “Captain America” card.” Peggy sounded slightly surprised.

“I don’t mind doing it for the two of you,” he wrapped his arm around Peggy’s waist and rested his head against hers before adding, “for our family.”

“Our family,” she repeated, “I like the sound of that.”

“It does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

He felt the comforting feeling of home he always felt with Peggy, but there was something more to it now, something a little like what he’d had when his mom was still around, something safe and grounding. Like he was exactly where he belonged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments and messages so far, it's so lovely to hear people are enjoying this fic and want me to keep writing it! I know the gaps between updates are getting a little longer, but the chapters seem to be getting longer too so hopefully that makes up for it.
> 
> My tumblr is http://rachlovesligers.tumblr.com/ for anyone who's interested, feel free to send me any questions or headcanons or anything!


	8. Chapter 8

It was a usual weekday morning in Steve and Peggy’s apartment. Steve had quickly polished off four slices of toast and three boiled eggs, but was dragging out his morning coffee. He took it black, he’d gotten used to drinking it that way during the war and saw no reason to change it now. Peggy was sipping her first cup of tea of the day, while glancing over the morning paper, her eyelids still heavy from sleep. She was wrapped in her dressing gown, it was a second hand one she’d acquired and had adjusted to fit her changing figure. The deep blue material suited her skin tone perfectly, though Steve struggled to call to mind a colour that didn’t suit her well.

He watched Peggy as her eyes glanced over the headlines, not focusing on anything in particular. She lazily turned the page, taking another sip from her cup. Her face had gotten a little fuller over the last few weeks, perhaps not so noticeably to those who didn’t look as closely at her as Steve did, but there was definitely a slight change and it filled Steve with a rush of affection his wife. Pregnancy suited her well, he thought, though she’d probably disagree.

“Are you planning to gaze at me all day or are you going to you finish that coffee while there’s still warmth left in it?” Peggy said without looking up from her paper.

He smiled.

“I’ll be coming in late today,” she added. “I’ve got a doctor’s appointment this morning.” It was the first Steve had heard of it.

“Should I come?”

“There’s no need, it’s only a check-up,” she said dismissively, her eyes still on the paper in front of her.

“Alright, you can tell me about it after.” He reached over to place his hand on her stomach, but moved it around uncertainly when he realised the baby was still.

“They’re sleeping right now. They like to wriggle around all through the night, then nod off just as my alarm clock goes off.” She sighed.

Steve felt a pang of something similar to envy when Peggy talked about their baby’s sleeping habits. He knew it was irrational, he should be happy that Peggy was already getting to know their baby well, but selfishly, he felt slightly left out. She was already learning things about their baby, becoming accustomed to their schedule, while he knew hardly anything about them. He was still a stranger to their baby.

“Steve?”

He hadn’t noticed his brows had furrowed together while he’d been lost in thought.

“Will you be back at work in time for the meeting with the Chief?” He changed the subject.

Peggy eyed him suspiciously for a moment before replying. He doubted he’d fooled her, but Peggy wasn’t one to push him to talk about things he wasn’t ready to talk about.

..............

The SSR’s decoding team had managed to decipher the note Steve and his team had brought back, and it had in fact been coordinates. The Chief had presented the findings during their meeting, and Thompson had of course leapt in with a plan to bombard the site, but Steve was hesitant.

“It seems too easy,” he shook his head, taking the paper from Thompson. “They break into our base in the middle of the day, when we’re fully staffed, and when they’re captured not one of them swallows cyanide, but instead they give us a location to a place where all we find is a piece of paper with the coordinates of another location.”

“You think they’re leading us in circles?” Chief Davies asked.

“They might just be amateurs,” Peggy offered. Thompson looked like he might interject but Steve’s gaze was fixed on Peggy, waiting patiently for her to continue. “If they really have a larger goal, it wouldn’t have been wise to storm our base and make themselves known to us before they’d barely got themselves off the ground.”

Thompson snickered, “right, amateurs managed break in here and successfully trick us into following their wild goose chase?”

“You say that as though you weren’t fooled into believing a remote typewriter was leading you directly to Howard Stark not long ago.”

Thompson rose out of his chair so quickly that the legs screeched across the floor.

“That’s enough,” the Chief held up his hand. “We’ll take in to consideration all the possibilities until we have some solid evidence to suggest otherwise.”

The meeting room cleared out quickly once the meeting had concluded. Though Thompson lingered behind, pouring himself a cup of coffee as he watched Peggy gather up her notes and the file she’d brought in with her.

He was clearly annoyed, to say the least, at no longer being the chief’s unofficial second-in-command as he had been with Dooley, in addition to having been excluded from the missions. With Steve and the Commandos happy to carry out the assignments, Chief Davies didn’t see the need to put any of his agents into the line of fire. He could be overcautious at times, but considering what had happened to Chief Dooley, she could see why. Peggy would probably have taken some childish pleasure from Thompson’s annoyance, if it hadn’t caused him to take it out on her.

“So I guess you don’t have long left here.” Thompson’s cutting tone made it clear he wasn’t making polite conversation about her maternity arrangements.

“Excuse me?”

“To have the baby, get the home ready, whatever it is women do.”

“I’ve still got three months to go.”

“Yeah, but, this isn’t really your job, is it? It was just something to keep you occupied until you were ready to start the job you were built to do, have children.”

“It’s my job as much as it is yours.” Peggy’s tone was brittle.

“But you’ll be leaving soon to have your kid.”

“And once I’ve recovered I’ll return to work, as will Captain Rogers.”

He laughed, “Sure you will honey.”

She picked up her files and turned towards the door. As much as she would’ve loved to rip into Thompson, both verbally and physically, it would only give him what he wanted, and to be honest she was tired of it all. Tired of being put down, tired of having to fight just to tread water. She’d finally managed to take a step forward after the business with Leviathan, and now it felt as though she was being dragged two steps back.

..............

After dealing with Thompson’s foul mood the last thing Peggy wanted to do was stay in the office during her lunch hour, so as soon as she had a break in her schedule she picked up her coat and headed over to the diner.

“Something upset you English?” Angie came over to her table, coffee pot in hand.

“Oh just the usual.”

“Those pig-headed co-workers giving you a hard time again?”

Peggy nodded. “Something like that. Not to mention my god-awful doctor. He’s so terribly patronising. _I’m not to engage in exerting activities, I mustn’t allow myself to become over excited_ ,” she repeated her doctor’s advice. “You’d think I was made of glass.”

“He sounds like a real jerk,” Angie agreed, “but everything’s healthy?”

“Apparently so.”

Angie took her order and returned not long after with Peggy’s meal. It was definitely a larger portion than it ought to have been, and she didn’t doubt that was Angie’s doing.

When the diner quietened down as the lunchtime rush came to an end, Angie slid into the seat opposite Peggy. “I was thinking, why don’t we go to the pictures this weekend. Steve and Bucky can come along, it’ll take your mind off everything.”

Peggy raised her eyebrow at the mention of Bucky.

“The four of us, just like how it always used to be.” Angie ignored her gaze.

Peggy sipped her tea slowly, waiting to see if Angie would offer anything else, before approaching the subject carefully. “So I take it you and Bucky worked things out between the two of you?”

“You could say that,” she grinned mischievously.

“Oh Angie!”

“I bumped into him the other day and he was extremely apologetic, and I felt pretty bad considering I was the one who started our last fight.”

Peggy waited for her to elaborate.

“I might’ve said a thing or two about him staying in a job for the wrong reasons, but he got mad so it made me mad and I told him he needed to get a job he actually likes instead of following Steve around all the time.” Angie cringed as she recalled their disagreement.

Peggy shook her head as she sighed, “their following each other is mutual, they’re as good as brothers.”

“I know that, but I don’t think it should keep him in a job that doesn’t make him happy anymore. It’s caused him enough pain.”

“That’s his decision to make.”

“I guess,” Angie let out an exasperated sigh and her shoulders slumped. “It doesn’t mean I like it.”

..............

Steve had been as surprised at Angie’s suggestion as Peggy had, but had shrugged his shoulders and been enthusiastic about their plans nonetheless. He’d asked about Peggy’s doctor’s appointment but had seemed slightly bothered when she’d brushed off his questions, there wasn’t much to tell after all.

They met Bucky and Angie outside the movie theatre, and the two of them were happily talking when Peggy and Steve arrived. To an outsider Peggy imagined they would seem like a couple, perhaps still in the blissful early stages of their romance. It was the way Bucky subconsciously leaned towards Angie, hanging on her every word with an adoring smile on his face as she most likely told an elaborate story about the goings on at the Griffith. It wasn’t difficult to see there was more than simply friendship between them. Though she doubted anyone would be able to guess at the ups and downs they’d already experienced.

As Peggy and Steve approached, Angie darted towards them enthusiastically. She looped her arm through Peggy’s and led her inside, excitedly telling her about the “rave reviews” the film had gotten.

When they sat down it took Peggy a moment to get comfortable in her chair, she was sure the damn things had shrunk since the last time she’d been, and there must’ve been a grimace on her face because Bucky and Angie were both leaning over with concerned expressions. She waved away their concerns, there really was no need for such fuss, at six months pregnant discomfort was something she was used to by now.

Angie leaned over to whisper to Peggy, “I snuck some bread rolls in my bag if you get hungry.”

“Thanks for the thought,” Peggy replied, more than a little amused at the thought of Angie smuggling in bread rolls in her sequined clutch bag, “but I think I’ll be alright.”

“Did you stash some corned beef and butter in there too? We could set up our own little café.” Bucky’s lips quirked as he teased her.

“You make fun all you want but when my cousin was expecting she couldn’t go thirty minutes without eating something, and when she got hungry, she got mean. We all learnt to stash some snacks in our pockets whenever we were around her, for our own safety.”

Steve leaned forward to join the conversation, “I think it was very considerate of Angie to bring food for Peggy.”

Angie looked satisfied and smiled triumphantly at Bucky.

They settled in their seats and Peggy noticed a rustling sound as Steve fiddled with something in his pocket. It appeared he’d had the same idea as Angie, and she smiled to herself.

The lights began to dim and Bucky leaned towards Angie, “I wouldn’t mind one of those bread rolls if they’re going spare.”

She thumped him playfully on the shoulder. “They’re not for you.”

Bucky’s teasing grin and Angie’s girlish giggle made a stark change from their behaviour the last time Peggy had seen the two together. She turned to Steve and was met with his confused expression, but when she tilted her head ever so slightly in the direction of Angie and Bucky, silently asking Steve for his opinion, he just shrugged his shoulders turned back to the screen.

The newsreel began and Peggy could still hear Angie stifling a giggle as Bucky whispered something in her ear.

Not long into the first film Peggy shifted in her seat again, leg cramps bothering her now, when Angie’s position in her seat caught her eye. She seemed to be leaning into Bucky, but from the corner of her eye she couldn’t be sure. Until she noticed Bucky’s hand, his large fingers spread over Angie’s thigh. Peggy glanced back to the screen, trying to hide her surprise, though she really ought to have seen it coming. She tried to keep her eyes forward, but Angie shifted in her seat and her eyes darted to her involuntarily, just in time to notice Bucky’s hand squeeze slightly, bunching up Angie’s skirt between his fingers.

Peggy looked away and this time made a considerable effort to keep her eyes fixed on the screen. They were in an extremely public place, but she wouldn’t put it past those two to take things further. They’d been in a few similar situations before, as Peggy was all too aware of thanks to Angie’s tendency to overshare. Though Peggy supposed she was one to talk, she’d lost count of the number of times she’d taken Steve in her office.

She supposed being in a dark room, sitting so close to each other, did seem quite an opportune moment. They were near enough to the back that it didn’t seem indecent, she could certainly see the attraction. At that thought, Steve moved to put his arm around her shoulders and she decided to take a leaf out of Bucky’s book, reaching over to place her hand on Steve’s thigh. She gave it a squeeze and he turned to her, eyebrow raised. As she began to run her hand up his leg he glanced around cautiously. Seemingly deciding no one nearby was paying them much attention, Steve turned back to Peggy and placed a few silent kisses across her cheek.

She rubbed her thumb in circles on his thigh, and she felt his arm tighten slightly, his hand squeezing her shoulder. His lips moved lower, kissing and sucking softly just underneath her jawline. Her hand moved higher, almost at his crotch, massaging him slightly. Steve pulled away for a second before resting his forehead against her temple. She heard an almost inaudible moan escape his lips and her hand continued working up his thigh.

But before Peggy could continue, Angie broke the quiet with a groan. Both her and Steve’s heads whipped round to see that Bucky and Angie had gotten considerably more carried away than they had. Bucky’s hand was no longer visible, but quite clearly under Angie’s skirt. An elderly woman two rows in front turned in her seat and tutted, scowling in their general direction, effectively breaking each couple apart. Angie suddenly appeared very interested in the film, while Bucky seemed to be studying the back of the chair in front of him.

..............

After almost getting caught once Steve was careful to keep his hands to himself for the rest of the picture, although Peggy had been the one instigating it all. It was probably for the best, Peggy might have been in control, but it would’ve been way too easy for him to get carried away and forget where they were. So he kept his eyes straight ahead and made an effort to pay attention to what was happening on the screen.

Steve became so immersed in the main show that it took him a while to notice Peggy’s fidgeting. The picture was cheerful and bright with plenty of musical numbers, it was right up his alley. So it wasn’t until he heard her quiet, frustrated sigh that he glanced over and noticed Peggy’s furrowed brows.

He leant over to ask her if she felt alright.

“The baby’s got the hiccoughs.”

“How can you tell?”

“It’s more rhythmic than kicking, not dissimilar to a pulse. Here,” she took his hand and placed it where the movement was.

He could feel the soft thump, like a heartbeat, and smiled. “Is this what’s making you uncomfortable,” he whispered.

From the stubborn set of her jaw he could tell, even in the dark, she wasn’t going to admit to being uncomfortable. Peggy never liked to make a fuss, and she didn’t like being coddled. That combined with the fact that she could be extremely stubborn, meant she preferred to power through any pain or discomfort rather than acknowledge it was there. It made caring for her when she was sick or hurt especially challenging, though Steve was yet to shy away from a challenge.

He reached out to take the hand she was resting in her lap and took it in both of his, rubbing soothing circles into it. She didn’t say anything, but after a few minutes he felt her rest her head on his shoulder.

..............

The four of them stood outside the movie theatre at the end of their evening saying their goodbyes. It was starting to get colder, so Steve had wrapped his arm around Peggy, and from the way Bucky’s eyes kept darting to Angie, only inches away, it seemed as though he ached to do the same.

“We should make it Coney Island next time.” Bucky was grinning from ear to ear, he had an excitement that Peggy hadn’t seen in him for a while.

“I’m not sure I’ll be the best companion at an amusement park,” Peggy said, looking down at her protruding stomach pointedly.

“It’s alright, now Steve will have someone to sit out on the faster rides with him.”

“Hey! I go on rides!” Steve protested.

“Just not the scary ones, huh?” Angie joined in with a mocking pout.

“Ang, did I ever tell you about the time Steve threw up on the Cyclone?”

Steve was glaring at his best friend.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me? On the Cyclone? I’ve been going on that ride since I was a kid!” Angie had her head tipped back in laughter. “Is that why you didn’t want to ride the Wonder Wheel with me last time we went?”

“No, that was, I just…,” Steve’s brows were furrowed adorably.

“I think I’ve traumatised him,” Bucky shook his head. “I’m just glad I finally have someone to ride the fast rides with.” He spoke with more emotion than he’d probably intended for a conversation about funfair rides, and it didn’t go unnoticed. There was a definite pause in the conversation before Steve initiated the goodbyes.

When they parted ways Angie and Bucky quite clearly made a point to take separate routes home. Peggy wasn’t sure who they thought they were fooling, but she and Steve both played along nonetheless.

As they made their way home Steve kept his arm wrapped firmly around Peggy.

“That was a nice evening,” he commented.

“Mm, it was. Though I imagine our nights like that are numbered.”

“Hey, that’s not true! I’m sure plenty of our friends will be happy to babysit for us.”

“I suppose.” She looked down at her bump regretfully as she ran her hand over it. Not to say she wasn’t extremely happy to have a baby on the way, Steve’s baby at that, it just meant that so much would change.

Steve kissed her cheek, “the first thing I intend to do after the baby’s born is take you out dancing again.”

It had been at her insistence that they’d stopped going to the dance hall, she felt far too large to be spun around a dance floor, and quite frankly she didn’t know if she had the energy for it.

“The first thing?”

“Ok, not the first, but when you feel up to it again we’ll get Buck or Angie to watch the baby and I’m taking you out.”

She smiled up at him, “It’s a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's starting to feel like Peggy's been pregnant forever but there are so many cute steggy pregnancy things I wanted to include, and I think nine months is quite a long time, so yeah I hope you all are still enjoying it! Also this chapter was a lot more Bucky/Angie heavy than usual, so do let me know what you think.
> 
> My tumblr is http://rachlovesligers.tumblr.com/ if you want to come and talk to me about this fic, or anything else to do with Steve and Peggy!


	9. Chapter 9

Steve was immersed in the morning’s headlines when the sounds of plates clattering broke his concentration. He heard a few muttered profanities coming from the kitchen as he folded his newspaper and got up. He knew Peggy had been feeling fed up recently, and was made more irritable by the fact that she needed Steve’s help with some of the more labour intensive chores. Considering all the discomfort she was going through in order to bring their child into the world, he felt the least he could do was take on the majority of the cooking and cleaning. Despite Peggy’s insistence that she didn’t need him to do _all_ the household chores, “honestly Steve, being a little heavier on my feet doesn’t prevent me from being able to wash a few plates”, he’d insisted that with the advantage of his enhanced abilities it wasn’t an enormous hardship for him to do a little more than usual. She hadn’t put up much of an argument at the time.

He entered the kitchen to see Peggy aggressively putting the crockery he’d recently cleaned into the basin.

“Those ones are clean.”

“No they’re not bloody clean, because your insistence on stacking everything to the ceiling rather than simply drying and putting them away means I can’t get a bowl without the whole lot falling on the floor. It’s a miracle nothing broke,” she snapped at him.

“I’m sorry I just –”

“And this one wasn’t even properly cleaned,” she held up a bowl, “there’s dried cereal stuck to the inside of it.”

“Well, I –”

“If you’re going to insist on doing all the washing up you could at least ensure all the crockery is actually _clean_.”

“I’m sorry Pegs, I didn’t notice that one –” but she turned her back on him mid-apology and went back to angrily throwing dishes into the sink. Steve couldn’t ignore the hurt he felt at her complete rejection of his apology. “Fine,” he snapped back, “I won’t bother anymore, since my cleaning skills clearly aren’t up to your standards.”

She didn’t respond so he left the room, leaving her to rewash the dishes that had fallen.

..............

They didn’t address their disagreement but the atmosphere remained icy between them.

Shortly after an uncomfortable and mostly silent lunch, Angie knocked at the door, her arms stacked high with cardboard boxes and bulging bags slung over each shoulder. Apparently she’d mentioned to Peggy that she had some second hand baby clothes her family wanted to pass on.

“You would not believe the nightmare I’ve had trying to carry all this stuff up those stairs, how you’ll manage to get a pram up here I have no idea!”

Steve relieved her of the stacked boxes and overstuffed bags, carrying them into the living room, while Angie hugged Peggy and excitedly commented on how big she was getting.

“She’s glowing, isn’t she?” Angie turned to Steve, hands still on Peggy’s bump.

“She is,” he agreed, trying to make his smile appear genuine, as Peggy purposefully avoided making eye contact with him.

The three of them sat down in the small living room, Steve having brought in drinks, and began emptying the bags Angie had brought with her. Apparently she had a rather large extended family who’d quickly made the most of peacetime, judging by the sheer amount of baby clothes in various sizes and colours that she claimed had all been outgrown.

“Angie we can’t take all of this, won’t there be other children in your family who’ll need it?” Peggy said as she pulled out a small pair of buckled shoes.

“Oh god no, not for a while anyway, they all went baby-making mad as soon as the war ended, now my family is overrun with kids. We all love them to death, don’t get me wrong, but I think it’s safe to say no one’s in a rush to add anymore.”

“It’s extremely generous,” Steve added.

Angie waved a hand dismissively, “don’t mention it.”

As they sorted through the bags Angie excitedly held up the tiny dresses and rompers, placing them on Peggy’s round belly. Steve wished they weren’t on such uncomfortable terms, he just wanted to talk to his wife and resolve whatever had happened between them, but with Angie sitting between them it wasn’t exactly an appropriate time. So they continued to go through the clothes, cooing over how small the new-born outfits were. Peggy was astonished that the baby would still be so tiny when it came out.

“Well it’s gotta squeeze through a pretty small hole,” Angie commented teasingly, which earned her an elbow in the ribs from Peggy.

“I’ll thank you not to remind me of that fact.”

Steve was more taken aback by the larger outfits, he’d been so focused on the idea of them having a baby that he hadn’t thought much further ahead, and it started to dawn on him that their baby would eventually become a full-grown child.

“You alright over there Steve?” Angie asked.

“Yeah, I just, I still can’t believe this is real,” he said as he held up a pair of shorts surely large enough for a three year old. He was feeling slightly overwhelmed but it was mixed with so much excitement and anticipation, that it wasn’t exactly a bad feeling.

“You’re handling this a lot better than most of the guys in my family, half of them tried to skip town after they got their girls pregnant unexpectedly,” she turned to Peggy, “you hit a goldmine with this one.”

“Mm,” Peggy mumbled noncommittally, not meeting Steve’s eyes. Instead she reached for another item, distracting Angie with an adorable hat.

After the clothes bags were emptied they moved on to the boxes, they contained a few practical things, including a rather intimidating looking maternity girdle, which Angie assured them was merely for support, as well as various maternity dresses. But the most exciting part was the toys. Steve had probably a little too much fun with the train set, and Angie’s performance with some hand-puppets even had Peggy laughing.

..............

After their excitement surrounding the collection of toys had died down, Angie started to gather her coat.

“I ought to get out of your hair.”

“No Angie, won’t you stay for tea?”

“I’ve had plenty of tea already Pegs, I’m all tea’d out.”

“She means dinner,” Steve translated into American-English. He was trying to be helpful, but Peggy shot him a scathing glare.

“Oh,” Angie glanced between Peggy and Steve with a frown and he wondered how much of their tension she had picked up on. He’d probably been pretty naïve in assuming she’d been completely oblivious to it.

“It’s no trouble,” Peggy pleaded, and Steve wondered if she was trying to avoid another uncomfortable meal.

“Sure, I can stay.”

..............

After a slightly uncomfortable but not entirely unpleasant dinner, which Angie had filled with a lot of chatter and a few concerned glances at both Peggy and Steve, it became clear she couldn’t stay much longer. They thanked Angie for the generous gifts and asked her to pass on their thanks to her family, and then the two of them were left alone in their far too quiet apartment.

Steve felt he should make the first move. “That was nice of Angie, to give us all that stuff.”

“Mm, very generous,” Peggy agreed. She was folding baby clothes and Steve felt a little uneasy when she replied without looking up at him.

“I suppose I should start putting these away,” he mumbled, feeling slightly rejected. He started putting the toys back into the boxes Angie had left and stacked them in the corner of the room out of the way, then he picked up a pile of tiny clothes before Peggy stopped him.

“Where are you going to put those?” Peggy looked at him properly for the first time that evening.

“In our bedroom, I thought I could find some space in one of our drawers.”

“There isn’t any room, we’re packed tight as it is, and besides, you can’t mix the baby’s clothes with ours.”

“Why not?”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” she responded sharply.

“Then where do you suggest I put them?” Steve could feel his anger from earlier coming back, he was sick of being told off.

“Put them wherever you bloody well feel like putting them,” Peggy muttered as she went back to folding clothes.

Steve didn’t feel ready to let this go. He’d tried to be as understanding as possible, but he wanted to know what he’d done to deserve this icy treatment.

“What is this really about?”

Peggy carried on folding clothes, acting as if he hadn’t said a thing. He stood, arms crossed, waiting for her to respond, before he pressed again. “Peggy?”

“Nothing’s changed for you!” her head snapped up and he could see the anger in her eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“You can carry on as normal, you still get to go on missions, no one treats you any differently, no one coddles you,” she was shouting now, but her eyes were shimmering with tears, “and when this baby’s born you’ll still go to work every day, your opinion will still matter in the office, no one will accuse you of being soft because you have a child.”

“Has someone said something to you?”

“That doesn’t matter, I know how things are Steve. After this baby is born do you think anyone is going to let me back in the field? I’ll likely never see action again, I’ll be relegated to filing and coffee making.”

“No you won’t. You fought for your place in that office and you can fight for it again, they can’t just take away everything you’ve earned because you’re a mother.”

“God you’re so clueless Steve,” she almost laughed.

“That’s unfair.”

“What’s unfair is that you don’t have to give anything up! You have it so easy!”

That hit a nerve.

“Do you think you don’t get _any_ benefits in this?” Steve replied.

Peggy’s expression stayed fixed, her jaw set.

“You have a bond with our child that I will never compare to, you get to be with them constantly, you get to feel them moving inside of you. Do you think I don’t get jealous of that?”

“This isn’t about jealousy Steve!” And with that she turned away and stormed towards their bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

..............

After storming out and slamming the door like a petulant child Peggy couldn’t bear to face Steve. Some part of her knew she was overreacting, but her anger was too intense and her pride too great for her to try and talk to Steve again that evening. So instead she busied herself with putting away baby clothes, and then took more time than necessary to wash and get ready for bed.

It didn’t surprise her when Steve decided to sleep on the sofa that night, without so much as a word of goodnight. It was rare for Peggy to go to bed without at least a goodnight kiss from Steve, but they were just as stubborn as each other, and she refused to be the one to break first. So she settled in bed and let the exhaustion from a day of arguing wash over her.

..............

Peggy woke feeling cold in their bed, she reached for Steve but all she could feel were empty bedsheets and she started to panic. She rolled over and turned on the small lamp on her bedside table, glancing around their bedroom as her mind caught up.

The previous day came rushing back to her in a wave of guilt. Her anger had completely evaporated and in its place was a horrible feeling that she’d hurt Steve unforgivably. A glance at the clock told her it was still in the early hours of the morning, but she couldn’t bear to go back to sleep without talking to him, as selfish as it felt.

She got out of bed and made her way to the living room. The light from the streetlamps provided a dim glow, brightening the room just enough for her to see Steve spread uncomfortably over their small sofa. One leg dangled off the side, the small blanket barely covering him, and he had an arm raised awkwardly above his head. The boxes of toys and piles of baby clothes were still scattered across their living room. Steve had apparently made some attempt at categorising them, the socks and hats were in a pile next to the sloppily folded baby grows, which had been separated from the outerwear.

Despite his size, something about the way Steve had arranged himself made him seem shockingly small. His pre-serum self was always most apparent when he slept, but the combination of his vulnerability and the piles of baby clothes that surrounded him overwhelmed her. It was often easy to forget that they’d almost missed this. Peggy tried not to dwell on the time she’d spent believing this would never be possible, when she’d been grieving and images of Steve cradling a baby or sorting through new-born sized clothes had felt like a knife to the gut. The sight of it now simultaneously filled her with joy and broke her heart.

Peggy didn’t want to wait any longer to resolve their disagreement. She lifted the blanket and climbed on top of Steve, trying to balance herself on his body as best she could. His eyes blinked open and he mumbled incoherently as she wriggled.

“Budge up,” she whispered, trying to wedge herself into the non-existent gap between Steve and the back of the sofa. He rubbed his eyes, looking somewhat confused.

“Wouldn’t you be more comfortable in bed?”

Peggy froze, of course it had been silly of her to expect his anger to evaporate just as easily, she hadn’t even offered him so much as an apology.

“Oh,” she tried to hide her embarrassment, pulling away from him, “I’ll leave then.”

“No!” he wrapped an arm around her and gently pulled her back towards him, “I meant with me. This can’t be very comfortable for you.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, Steve sat up with her still in his arms and they stood with the blanket wrapped around both of them. Peggy leant into Steve as they sleepily walked back to bed. Her guilt was still present, but slowly subsiding.

They arranged themselves in bed so Steve was wrapped around Peggy, her head resting on his chest, their legs intertwined, and her bump pressed between them.

They laid together in silence for a while, the only sound their breathing, but Peggy couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she’d been incredibly unfair to Steve. He had made such an effort to make sure she didn’t have to lift a finger her entire pregnancy, and she’d managed to find a way to criticise him for it. Not only that but she’d taken out her anger at her colleagues on Steve, one of the few men who didn’t think any less of her now that she was due to become a mother.

A well-worded, heartfelt apology would have been ideal, but apologies had never been Peggy’s strong point, so she settled for a muffled “I’m sorry” against Steve’s chest.

“Mm, what was that?” Steve replied, but she could almost hear the smile in his voice.

“You heard me.” She felt Steve chuckle in response.

He kissed her forehead softly, “I’m sorry too.”

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for.”

“I’m not completely innocent in this.”

“Don’t Steve, I was horrid to you.”

“But what you’re feeling is understandable, you fought to be respected once, it’s not fair you should have to do it again.”

“It wasn’t fair of me to take it out on you.”

They laid in silence for a moment before Peggy spoke in barely more than a whisper.

“I don’t want to have to fight for it all over again.”

Her voice broke at the end of her sentence, much to her annoyance, and when Steve pulled back to try and look at her properly, she responded by burying her face in his neck as her shoulders shook. She’d always hated people seeing her cry.

A small sob escaped her and Steve pulled her as closely to him as he could. He planted kisses in her hair and rubbed his warm hand up and down her back.

Peggy tried to pull herself together, but everything she’d been holding in, the nasty comments Thompson had made, the patronising assumptions from her other colleagues, it all came right to the surface and she didn’t have the energy to hold it in any more. So she started to sob loudly into Steve’s chest.

“Peggy?” his voice was panicked as he tried to comfort her, rocking her slightly as he murmured softly, “shh, shh, it’s ok.”

He kissed her skin wherever it was exposed, the top of her cheek, the back of her hand, her wrist, until the sobs finally began to ease up.

After a few deep breaths she pulled away from the damp patch she’d left on Steve’s nightshirt and blinked up at him wearily. She hated seeing the worry lines between his eyebrows, hated feeling that she’d caused them.

“I’m ok,” she said as he reached up to wipe away the tears on her cheek.

He kept his hand here, his thumb skimming her cheekbone, as he looked at her with an intensity she wasn’t expecting.

“It’s not fair that you have to prove yourself over and over again, but I’ll be there by your side Peggy, I’ll help you in any way I can.”

“I know you will my darling.”

He didn’t say much else, because there was nothing he could say. It was a battle she would have to fight, and as reluctant as she was to face it again, there was no doubt in her mind that she would fight for the position she’d earned more than once.

After a few more moments as they held each other in silence, Peggy still had something to get off her chest.

“You have an incredible bond with our child.”

“Huh?”

“What you said earlier, about your bond with our child not comparing mine, you don’t realise how strong yours is already.” Steve didn’t say anything, so she continued, “they recognise your voice, I’m sure of it.”

He pulled away to look at her properly, “You think so?”

“Definitely.” She wiped at her cheek, trying in vain to act as though she hadn’t just been crying. “After I’ve been apart from you for a while, as soon as they hear your voice again they start kicking like mad.”

“Really?” A smile stretched across his face as he spread his fingers over her bump, rubbing softly.

“Yes, really.” She placed her hand over his. “What is it that’s made you feel this way?”

Steve shook his head, “it’s not important.”

“Yes it is. Tell me.”

He shrugged his shoulders, not making eye contact. “I guess, I just,” he took a breath, “sometimes I feel like I’m not so… involved. I don’t know how often the baby sleeps, or what makes them kick, and I’ve read the books but I’m not at the doctor’s appointments so I don’t know what things you’re experiencing, or what’s happening with our baby.”

Peggy felt awful that she hadn’t realised sooner. Steve had been enthralled by the baby books when they’d first found out, of course he’d want to be as involved as possible. She vowed to herself she’d make a conscious effort to make him feel more included. As much as she hated talking about her symptoms – Peggy had never liked to make a fuss – if it made Steve feel better she could try. And she certainly wouldn’t say no to having someone on her side at her doctor’s appointments.

She combed her fingers through Steve’s hair. His hand was still resting on her bump, his eyes still down.

“You may not be accustomed to our child’s habits yet, but you’re pretty well tuned to mine. I’ve noticed you’re careful not to bring any fish into the house, and you steer me away from Johnson when he eats his tuna sandwich in the office.” She might have gotten over her morning sickness, but even the slightest smell of fish left her with an uncontrollable urge to vomit.

Steve chuckled quietly.

“You’ll come to know the baby, in time, but for now, you’re doing a damn good job of looking after me.”

He shook his head, “you’re easy to take care of.”

“I know that’s a lie.”

He laughed, “Ok, easy’s probably not the right word. But I do like taking care of you, when you let me.”

She tilted his chin up so she could press her lips to his. Angie had been right, she really had struck a goldmine with Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to build up to this for a while now, and a few people did guess something was brewing, so hopefully that means I built it up well! And hopefully it was worth the build up... let me know what you think.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the comments and encouragement on the last chapter! It helped motivate me a lot and probably extended the fic by a few chapters.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait for this chapter! I lost motivation for a little while, but I'm excited about getting back into it now. Enjoy.

In all honesty Peggy had still had lingering doubts after her argument with Steve. Though they’d both promised to be more considerate of the other’s insecurities, promising and doing were two very different things. But Steve, for his part, did everything he could to make Peggy feel hopeful about her future at the SSR. He kept talk of current missions to a minimum, instead focusing on his ideas of how they could juggle childcare with field work. He researched baby formula, in case Peggy wanted to go back to work before the baby had been weaned. Things were still far from ideal, but Peggy greatly appreciated Steve’s efforts to support her.

Though Peggy still hated making a fuss over the aches and pains that came along with pregnancy, she now understood how much it meant to Steve. She understood that he felt more involved when she discussed her symptoms with him, so she made an effort to vocalise how she was feeling, ignoring as best she could the embarrassment that came with it.

As Steve reacted to her openness with attentiveness, Peggy began to feel more comfortable asking him for assistance, as and when it was needed. Which was how she came to have no qualms about waking him up in the early hours of the morning when she felt a very particular need. She had considered sorting herself out, but with her husband lying right beside her, looking particularly handsome sprawled out as he was, it seemed silly not to at least wake him to ask.

She nudged his shoulder. No response. Shaking him earned her a groan, so she murmured his name until he seemed somewhat conscious.

Steve rubbed at his eyes before looking up at her.

“What time is it? Wait, it’s not –” he glanced down towards her midsection in panic.

“Oh goodness no, I’m fine, I just…” she suddenly felt embarrassment wash over her as she struggled to find a way to word what exactly it was she wanted from him.

“Peggy?” Steve was resting on his elbow.

He was more awake now, and she still didn’t know what to say, so she simply placed her lips on his. He was still for a moment before his lips began to move with hers, and when she pulled away he looked confused. Apparently she’d have to be clearer if she was going to get what she craved.

“I need you.” She said it with an intensity she hoped he would understand.

“Oh!” he rubbed at his eyes, suddenly understanding. “Just give me a second to wake up.”

Peggy still felt more than a little embarrassed, but before she could doubt herself too much Steve pulled her lips back to his for a deeper kiss, his tongue tracing over hers. He began unbuttoning her night shirt, well, _his_ night shirt she had taken to wearing, although she couldn’t quite manage to do all of the buttons up now, and trailed kisses down her neck. His lips were warm as they moved across her collar bone, over her breasts, moving slowly down her body, getting closer to where she needed him so desperately.

..............

Peggy couldn’t find it in her to regret waking Steve in the middle of the night, as she watched him yawn over his breakfast the next morning. She still felt some lingering embarrassment at having needed him so badly, but she supposed it couldn’t be helped.

She reached across the table to take his hand.

“I’m incredibly grateful to you for being so… accommodating last night.”

Steve stifled a laugh. “Peggy, you can wake me up for _that_ anytime.”

“Yes, well, even so.”

He smiled into his coffee.

Steve looked just as he did most mornings, hair slightly dishevelled, cheeks still pink from sleep. He was in a ratty old t-shirt, but something about the way the sleeves clung to his arms in a way that perfectly emphasised his muscular biceps had her aching for him again.

She groaned in annoyance. Steve looked up with a raised eyebrow, but she couldn’t bring herself put her desire into words. Instead, she walked around the table and leaned down to kiss him, making her intentions quite clear as she tipped his head back to deepen the kiss.

He pulled away just enough to look at her, breathing heavily.

“Already?” He asked with a playful grin.

“How opposed are you to the idea of being late for work today?”

From the way he pulled her into his lap and kissed her hungrily, she suspected he wasn’t opposed to the idea in the slightest.

..............

Her hunger for Steve and her need for the things he could do with his hands, and his mouth, made the working day drag considerably.

Once they were home they didn’t waste any time in making up for the hours they’d lost during the day. Peggy was still somewhat baffled by her seemingly uncontrollable and constant craving, but Steve appeared to be taking it in his stride. Which Peggy supposed shouldn’t surprise her, his stamina being what it was.

After she felt satisfied enough for the time being, they set about compiling a list of items they still needed to buy before the baby arrived.

“We’ll need nappy cloths and pins.” Peggy added it to the top of the list. “Those are vital.”

Steve gave her a strange look.

“Diapers,” she clarified, with a slight air of distaste for the word. Steve nodded.

“A cot,” she added. “Also rather vital.”

“You mean a crib?”

“No, I mean a cot Steve, the type in which infants sleep.” She rolled her eyes in frustration before adding to the list. “I don’t expect dummies are vital, but I’ve heard they can be quite useful.”

Steve’s brows were pulled together in confusion again.

“It’s a pacifier Steve! Surely you must know that one! You lived in London for a time during the war, you ought to be the one translating for me!”

His mouth twitched and she realised he was holding back a grin.

“You were having me on?”

His façade broke as he started to laugh.

“Oh sod off!” she exclaimed, throwing a cushion at him.

He was still laughing as he wrapped his arms around her. “I couldn’t resist. Besides, you better get used to this now. Our kid’s gonna be speaking with a Brooklyn accent whether you like it or not.”

Peggy rolled her eyes, though she didn’t find the idea of their child adopting Steve’s Brooklyn lilt as offensive as she’d expected. Still, she couldn’t resist teasing him.

“Well in that case, I’ll have to invite Mr Jarvis over frequently.”

..............

Now that they had a list Steve was feeling a little less panicked. Not that he’d been outwardly panicking before, but the due date seemed within reach now, and having some kind of a plan made it feel a lot more manageable.

Peggy was lounging across the couch, her swollen feet up on the armrest, while Steve went over the list again. He was attempting to estimate what it all would cost, so they could figure out what to prioritise. It wasn’t an easy task.

“How many would you like?” Peggy’s question took him by surprise. He looked up to see her running her hand over her round belly.

“How many what?”

“How many children.” She replied as if it was obvious.

“Hmm, maybe four or five.” He said without having to really think about it. He’d pictured their future together many times.

Peggy balked. “ _Five?_ ”

“Yeah, imagine having five little versions of us running around, it’d be so fun.”

“I’m not sure fun is the word I’d use.” She frowned. “And I’m sure it’s much more _fun_ to imagine when you don’t have to worry about pushing five screaming babies out of an _extremely_ small orifice.”

Maybe he hadn’t thought the whole idea through. “How many do you want?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of two.” She sounded almost apologetic. “I’m sorry to disappoint you Steve, but I don’t think I can do this five times.” She glanced down at her swollen feet.

“That’s alright.” He moved so he was kneeling beside the couch, and placed his hand on her bump. “Even if we just have this one, that’s more than I ever dreamed of.”

“I’d be quite happy with two,” Peggy replied. “Although an argument could be made for three.”

Steve beamed as he leaned down to kiss her.

..............

Peggy dozed on the couch while Steve finished up the list. He’d just about finished when Peggy jolted awake, a frown on her face.

He tried to search for any traces of pain in her expression, but there didn’t seem to be any in her sleepy frown.

“He woke me up.” She complained.

“I can see.” Steve chuckled.

Peggy’s dress was thin enough that he could clearly make out the movements coming from within her.

“He’s getting pretty strong, by the looks of it.” Steve commented.

“Yes, he always reserves his most elaborate movements for when I’m trying to sleep.” Peggy said, though he didn’t miss the touch of affection in her voice.

Steve was still sitting on the floor next to the couch as he leant forward to rest his head against Peggy’s.

“Have you thought about a name yet?” He asked.

“I rather like William.”

Steve scrunched his nose up.

“No?”

“It’s too… I don’t like it. What about Bobby?” He suggested.

“ _Bobby Rogers?_ ” Peggy said with clear disgust.

“Bobby Carter-Rogers.” Steve corrected.

“God no.”

He chuckled. “Maybe we could name him after someone, give him a name that means something.”

Peggy’s chin wobbled for just a second before she spoke, and Steve wondered what he’d said wrong.

“Michael.” Her voice wavered just slightly, and she had to blink up at the ceiling, but she said it with conviction nonetheless.

“It’s perfect.” Steve squeezed her hand, hating the sadness that clouded her features whenever she talked about her brother. “And what about a backup, in case you’re wrong and we’ve got a little girl in there.” He said gently, trying to make her smile.

She considered it for a second.

“What about Sarah, for your mother?”

Steve could feel a small smile spread across his face. “Yeah, Sarah, I like it.” He kissed the back of Peggy’s hand.

“That’s settled then.”

..............

Unsurprisingly, Peggy’s desperate craving for Steve didn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. Steve seemed particularly pleased about that fact. They ended up in bed again, as Peggy made the most of Steve’s incredible stamina, combined with her increased sensitivity in all the places that mattered.

They laid together afterwards, as Peggy tried to catch her breath.

“The mission’s been scheduled for the day after next.” Steve admitted quietly.

“So I’ve heard.” Quite why he felt the need to bring it up now, Peggy had no idea.

“Will you be alright if I –”

“I don’t need to be babysat.” She cut him off.

“I just meant, if you need me here, I can –”

“The team needs you.” She retorted. Then more gently, she added, “I appreciate everything you do for me Steve, but I don’t need you to bow out of missions just to help me pick up things I drop, or rub my ankles when they get swollen, or satisfy my… other needs.”

He nodded.

Steve ran his hand gently over her exposed bump, in a way that was both soothing and arousing. Though his brows furrowed slightly.

“What is it?” She asked.

His lips tightened.

“Spit it out.”

“Can I draw you like this?” He asked sheepishly. His eyes were still down and she could see the subtle shade of pink starting to colour the tops of his cheeks.

“Of course you can,” she said gently, combing her fingers through his hair. “It’s not as though you haven’t drawn me in much more amorous poses before.”

The redness in Steve’s cheeks became slightly more pronounced.

“You’re the one who ‘borrowed’ my shield so you could surprise me with that pose.” He said, referring to the time Peggy had spotted his shield leaning against the wall while he showered, and had the sudden inspiration to pose with it and little else in a classic pin-up pose.

The mixture of surprise and arousal that covered Steve’s face when he saw her was extremely satisfying. Almost as satisfying as the fact that in his shock he’d dropped the towel he had been loosely holding around his waist. After she’d taken care of him, he’d asked to draw her in that pose, and it had sparked a trend of drawing her in various pin-up poses, an enjoyable hobby for both of them.

Peggy had once suggested they switch roles, and directed Steve into a classic pin-up pose, laid out on his front with his ankles crossed behind him. However, Peggy had never been particularly good at drawing, which meant she hadn’t had the patience to try for long. And it wasn’t helped by the fact that Steve looked hilarious, adorable and unbelievably attractive, all at once. It was overall a far too distracting combination.

She knew Steve drew her more than anyone else, so it didn’t surprise her that he’d want to capture her the way she looked now.

“Go on,” she encouraged. “Why don’t you fetch your sketchbook while I get comfortable.”

He hopped out of bed and jogged through to the living room, where she’d seen him sketching last.

She wasn’t sure to what extent Steve realised it was an enjoyable experience for her as well.

..............

To Steve’s dismay the mission had to be brought forward a day at short notice. The Chief had commitments in Washington, and though the operation was essentially being planned and carried out by Steve and the Howling Commandos, it was still technically an SSR operation. Which meant the Chief wanted to be at the SSR base in case anything went amiss.

The mission didn’t feel much different from their last. They’d located the coordinates found at the last base, and after considering their options, had decided that just turning up at the place was their best bet.

It turned out to be another abandoned warehouse that seemed suspiciously quiet from the outside. Steve was well aware they were probably walking into a trap, but with his team behind him, he didn’t feel too uneasy about it.

True to form, barely ten seconds after Steve had stepped over the threshold an explosion erupted in a far corner of the building. Suspecting its purpose was to draw them into the depths of the warehouse, as far away from quick exits as possible, Steve led his team away from it. They split into two groups of four and skirted round the inside edges of the building, guns raised. After the first explosion the building was eerily quiet.

Time seemed to drag as they searched the base for anything of consequence, on edge for their enemy to make themselves known.

Steve rounded a corner to find a row of doors, which he forced open one by one. Most were empty, the only objects desks and overturned filing cabinets. He was beginning to suspect that perhaps the explosion had been timed to go off, maybe they really were alone, until he heard Morita yell his name.

Steve sprinted towards the sound, finding Morita and Bucky in a small office. The light still worked, though the room smelled strongly of damp. The two of them seemed captivated by something on the far wall, and Steve’s chest tightened when he realised what it was.

Pinned to the walls were maps, blueprints, sketches of buildings that all looked familiar. There were photographs from the night they stormed the last warehouse they’d been led to, he saw pictures of himself walking into the building, his team following behind him. They’d been watched.

He looked to Bucky, whose face displayed sheer panic. Steve opened his mouth to ask but Bucky nodded to the photographs in front of him.

Steve recognised the front of the SSR base right away. He recognised the shade of Peggy’s hair from behind as she entered the building, flanked by himself. He noted the varying size of her belly in the photographs they’d taken, indicating they’d been watching her for a while. A chill ran down his spine as a familiar door caught his eye. The door to their apartment building.

He recognised the floor plans of the building and felt sick.

“Peggy.” Steve’s own voice sounded distant.

He had known this was a trap, but it had never crossed his mind that it might not be a trap for him. He needed to get out, he needed to get to Peggy. But before he could will his feet to move another explosion shook the building.

He fled the room, flanked by Bucky and Morita. The enemy had apparently given up hiding, as Steve noticed several men adorned with what looked like a bastardised Hydra symbol. Steve shot anyone that shot at him, as he ran desperately for the exit. They went down easily, but there were still explosions erupting throughout the building.

Morita had apparently radioed in the rest of the team, because they gradually began to join his group.

“There aren’t as many as there seem.” Dugan yelled as he caught up with them, “they’ve just got a lot of explosives. We took out all the ones we found.”

As they neared the exit Steve’s stomach sank to his knees. It was blocked off. Bolted shut and blocked by rubble.

“There’s gotta be another way out, they’re blowing this place to bits.” Morita reasoned.

Steve barely had a second to collect his thoughts before an ominous ball of metal came spinning along the floor towards them. He recognised it as some version of a grenade instantly, and without a moment’s thought picked it up and ran with it.

He kept running, ignoring the shouts from his team. He knew they wouldn’t be stupid enough to follow him no matter how angry they were.

When their shouts sounded far enough away he threw it with all his strength, but it had been closer to exploding than he’d realised. The strength of the explosion took him by surprise, throwing him hard against a steel beam. As he tried to get his bearings his head throbbed and he could feel shards of metal tear at his skin, his ears were ringing painfully. Steve tried desperately to hold onto consciousness, but he could feel himself being pulled under. As his vision clouded over his last thoughts were of Peggy and their baby, he needed to get to her before they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think! I'll try not to leave such a long wait for the next chapter, since this has been left on a bit of a cliffhanger...


	11. Chapter 11

Peggy was restless. She felt exhausted and her feet were swollen, but she simply couldn’t sit still. She wasn’t used to this, sitting on the side-lines waiting for a telephone call.

Even when she wasn’t on missions she’d usually be at the base, awaiting any codes to be interpreted and ready to step in if back-up was needed. But at this stage in her pregnancy she was slow on her feet and tired easily, not an ideal combination for a late night mission, so she had agreed to stay home. Although she was beginning to thoroughly regret that decision.

The baby wouldn’t let her rest either, the kicks had steadily picked up pace as the evening wore on, though that was probably due to her nerves. So she paced. She’d already washed the dishes and put away the load of laundry Steve had done before he’d left, she couldn’t concentrate on her book no matter how hard she tried, so there was nothing left but to wear holes in the carpet.

This wasn’t her; waiting at home, feeling helpless and useless. She wandered through the living room, searching for a task to occupy her mind, though nothing presented itself. Their bedroom was far too tidy. Peggy’s cosmetics were neatly arranged on the vanity table as always, her plants were recently watered, and Steve had even made the effort to put away his dirty clothes, a rarity in their home.

It was frustratingly tidy, and Peggy was about to leave the room in annoyance before she felt it; a cold breeze that brushed against her arm making the hairs there stand on end. She turned and noticed the window was open, only an inch or so. The window she’d closed not long after Steve had left, when the sun had just started to go down.

A knot tightened in her stomach as she slowly made her way over to the jewellery box on her vanity, the hidden compartment inside it was where she kept her Walther PPK. Gun in hand, she quietly scanned the bedroom.

A creak in the floorboards came from the bathroom and Peggy’s suspicions were confirmed; she wasn’t alone. She positioned herself in the hallway with a clear view of the bathroom door, but not directly in front of it, and waited.

The door creaked open painfully slowly. She saw the glint of a gun in the hand of a man built like a truck, he looked enormously out of place in her tiny hallway. The smirk that covered his worn face when he spotted her made her blood run cold, he clearly wasn’t here for a friendly interrogation over a cup of tea.

The hand that held his gun raised and Peggy didn’t hesitate. Two clean shots to the head and he was on the floor. The blood would be an awful mess to clean up.

Another man, much smaller in stature, came out with his hands up. He stepped over his associate’s body and smiled at her.

“Take one more step and I’ll shoot.” Peggy kept the gun aimed at his forehead.

“I had not expected you were the type to kill so callously, Agent Carter.” He spoke in heavily accented English, nodding down to the body on the floor beside him.

She felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She wasn’t usually the type to shoot before asking questions. She wasn’t usually the type to go in for the kill shot right away. But her swollen belly felt like a vulnerable and entirely unprotected target. She had been in no position to wrestle the gun from him, and leaving a man injured with a gun in his hand had felt like far too large a risk.

“Who are you?” She demanded.

“Perhaps we could go and talk somewhere more comfortable?” He ignored her question, but the band on his arm told her everything she needed to know. The symbol appeared to be an evolution of the Hydra symbol, what had once been tails were now heads.

“If you’re looking for the tesseract I’m afraid you’ve been misled. I’m not in the habit of bringing SSR property home with me.”

“No, no. We’ve retired that search for now. There has been a more pressing development that brings with it a host of new possibilities.”

Peggy raised an eyebrow.

“Our interest lies in continuing Johann Schmidt’s great vision. We believe you’ve developed something which holds the key to passing Erskine’s serum on to others.”

Peggy swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat as she realised why they’d come to her home. They believed Steve had passed the serum on to their baby.

“You’d experiment on an innocent _child?_ ” She spat the words at him.

“It is a small price to pay for the vast scientific advancements that will come from this research.” He shrugged his shoulder as though it were unimportant.

She wanted to launch herself at him. Instead, she tightened her grip on her gun.

“Continuing Schmidt’s work will only lead to your demise. Leave Hydra, and you can pursue numerous scientific advancements within the SSR. We can offer you protection,” she lied.

He appeared to ponder her offer for a short moment before a sickening smile spread across his face. “Thank you for your generous offer, Agent Carter, but I think I’m better suited to the opportunities Hydra can offer me.”

As his hand reached for his pocket, Peggy heard the shot before she registered what had happened.

His body fell to the floor, heaped over the man who had fallen before him. It wasn’t until Peggy saw the bullet hole in the centre of his forehead that she realised she’d fired the shot.

She didn’t have a moment to breathe before there was a loud banging against her front door, someone was pounding their fist against it. The adrenaline had overridden her exhaustion, but she was still slow on her feet from the extra weight she was carrying.

“Will you give me a moment’s peace?” She muttered.

“Carter!” Dugan’s rough voice yelled through the door. “Open up!”

Peggy rolled her eyes as she trudged towards the door.

“We’re serious Carter, if you don’t open this door we’re breaking it down!” Their pounding continued.

She swung the door open to find Dugan, Morita and Jones, still in full mission gear.

“Was that entirely necessary?” She scalded them.

“You’re ok?” Dugan looked over Peggy’s shoulder, scanning the hallway.

“Evidently.”

She ushered them in and Dugan and Morita walked around her, searching the apartment with their guns raised.

“Jesus Christ!” Dugan had stumbled upon the bodies of her intruders as he’d turned the corner. “You could’ve saved one for us!”

“Where would’ve been the fun in that?” She turned to Jones, who was by her side with his gun slightly raised. “How went the mission?”

He shifted on his feet, and for the first time Peggy noticed how odd it was for the three of them to have come alone.

“Where’s Steve?”

..............

They couldn’t tell her much because they didn’t know much themselves, Steve had still been unconscious when they’d left. They’d been able to tell her that Steve had picked up a damn grenade and ran with it. He’d still been too close when it had exploded, but he was alive, as far as they knew.

She’d ordered them to take her to the hospital, though she felt as though she was on the verge of collapsing.

Bucky was there to greet them at reception. His eyes were red and Peggy’s stomach sunk to her knees.

“Steve?” Her voice sounded hollow.

“He’s gonna be fine.” Bucky reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “He’s been asking for you ever since he started coming ‘round.”

That ought to have comforted her, but she felt her chin quiver and her breath started coming in short gasps.

“Hey, hey. Peg,” Bucky pulled her against his chest. “It’s alright.”

She could feel her cheeks becoming damp with tears.

“You know we’d never let him get too badly hurt, for fear of what you’d do to us.” He tried to lighten the mood.

“Can I see him?”

Bucky nodded and released her, holding out his arm for support. He led her down a corridor, leaving the rest of the team in the waiting area. Bucky indicated to the room when they approached it, and she squeezed his hand before going in.

As she entered the small room the sight of Steve laid out on the hospital bed made her chest ache. He looked so fragile. He was covered in bandages, but the skin that was exposed was littered with cuts and bruises. It must’ve been an awful sight before his enhanced healing had taken over.

She reached for his hand and he held it tightly, blinking as he turned to face her.

“Hi.” His voice sounded strained.

Peggy felt her tears begin to spill over her cheeks again.

“Shh, it’s ok.” Steve rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, attempting to soothe her, but the wounds that covered his fingers weren’t helping.

She tried to focus on his face, but he had heavy bruising around his temples and pink streaks across his skin that must’ve been cuts not long ago. She felt overwhelmed, as awful as he looked now, if he’d held on to the grenade for only a moment longer he might not have been so fortunate. Her whole body shook as she began to sob.

Some part of her registered the embarrassment of standing in the middle of Steve’s hospital room, openly sobbing. But they were alone, and she was exhausted, and with their baby still relentlessly kicking her she didn’t have the energy to try to keep her composure.

Steve was still trying to calm her, and with a little effort he reached over to rub his hand soothingly up and down her arm.

“Everything’s alright Peg.”

“For goodness sake Steve, I wish you’d worry about yourself for once!”

He seemed taken aback by the anger in her voice, and she felt guilty straight away. She ought to be the one comforting him.

“You could’ve died.” She spoke softly.

“I’m sorry.” He looked genuinely remorseful.

“I don’t need you to be sorry.” She put her hand to his cheek with the lightest of pressure. “How do you feel?”

She expected him to brush it off but he paused before answering honestly.

“Sore. And tired.”

She leaned forward, tightening her grip on his hand, and combed her fingers gently through his hair. But the closeness wasn’t enough and Steve seemed to feel the same, as he leant up towards her.

Their lips met and it wasn’t the gentlest of kisses. She tried to be mindful of Steve’s injuries, but Steve seemed just as desperate for the closeness as she was.

When they pulled apart he looked uncomfortable for a moment before he shifted away from her, leaving a small space next to him. “I can make some room if you want to –”

“Yes.” She gave him a watery smile, and with a bit of effort she climbed onto the bed.

It was a tight fit what with Peggy’s rather large bump to accommodate, but they just about managed to curl around each other enough to fit together in the small hospital bed. Steve had an arm wrapped around Peggy’s middle, as he rested his head gently on her shoulder, and his warmth surrounding her finally began to calm her.

They laid together for a while, the only sound their breathing, while Peggy ran her fingers soothingly through Steve’s hair.

Bucky popped in a short while later to let them know he’d “taken care of the visiting hours problem,” whatever that meant, and that Peggy was free to stay the night if she wanted.

“I do hope he didn’t bribe anyone.” She said after Bucky had left.

“Mm, he might’ve done.” Steve answered sleepily.

She kissed the top of his head, trying to be as gentle as she could.

“Tell me what happened,” Peggy murmured.

Steve pulled away slightly so he could look at her. His brows were pulled together as he answered.

“There weren’t too many of them, but they were definitely some type of Hydra unit with access to a lot of explosives. Bucky said we got them all. I remember shooting some of them, but I was just trying to get out, I…” he looked down, rubbing at his neck.

“We searched the building a little, before it all kicked off, and there was a room… they had photographs of us on the last mission, maps, floorplans. They’ve been watching us.” He swallowed audibly, “they had photographs of you too, and of our apartment.”

Dugan had mentioned some of this in the car on the drive to the hospital, but she hadn’t been able to take much in at the time. Now she understood.

“I was trying to get back to you, I thought they were coming after you.” Steve buried his head in the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

There was no use deceiving him now. She assumed the commandos would take care of the bodies she’d left in her hallway, but the blood might take a bit of work to get out.

Peggy took a shaky breath before speaking. “They were.”

Steve’s head shot up.

“What I mean to say is, they did come after me.”

She could see the panic in Steve’s eyes as he tried to process her words. She smoothed down his hair.

“Two of them broke into our apartment while you were gone. I killed one instantly. The second told me what they’d come for, and then I killed him when he reached for his gun.” She took a deep breath. “I would’ve preferred to have taken them hostage, but I didn’t feel that was an option, given my current condition.”

Steve seemed to be having trouble taking in what she was saying. His mouth opened and closed before he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair.

“I shouldn’t have gone.” His voice was muffled.

“Nonsense. You weren’t to know.”

“I should’ve –”

“You should’ve what? Predicted a threat we didn’t know existed? Abandoned your team to sit at home with me?”

Steve lifted his head to look at her. “They didn’t hurt you?”

“No. As it turns out having a belly the size of a watermelon was less of a hindrance than I’d imagined. Perhaps field missions aren’t entirely out of the question,” she teased.

Steve pouted at her suggestion.

“You said they told you what they wanted?”

That was a question she had hoped he wouldn’t ask. Peggy took another deep breath and blinked up at the ceiling.

“They believe our child may be of some value in their efforts to replicate the serum.” She felt sick as she heard the words come out of her mouth.

Steve looked like he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. He stared down at her bump, placing his hand on it ever so softly.

“This is my fault.” He said quietly.

“This is Johann Schmidt’s fault,” she retorted. “He created a legion of followers convinced that Erskine’s serum has the ability to make them superior men, regardless of the cost of gaining it.”

Steve still hadn’t shifted his gaze from her bump, his brows were pulled together and his jaw clenched as his mind worked.

“Steve?”

When he didn’t respond she cupped his chin, lifting his gaze to meet hers.

“I need you to understand that this isn’t your fault. Any child of an agent of the SSR would be at a greater risk than most, whether they carried your genetic material or not. Our line of work carries that risk, but it also means we’re better equipped to protect our child.”

She searched his eyes, trying to discern what he was thinking. But he simply nodded, his brows still furrowed, and then pulled her against his chest.

..............

Steve woke the next morning with his head resting on a soft, familiar surface, and with the blissful feeling of his hair being played with. His head moved with the rise and fall of Peggy’s chest. Her warmth and scent surrounded him, and the comfort it provided him with meant he was almost able to forget the ache he still felt throughout his body.

He kept his eyes shut, trying to stretch out the moment as long as he possibly could. There was a light knock at the door and he heard it open slowly.

“I’ll be bringing breakfast in shortly,” a soft voice stated.

He heard Peggy reply. “He requires triple portions, I assume you’re aware?”

“Oh,” there was a moment of hesitation. “His file only says double portions.”

“It’s incorrect.” Peggy spoke with such authority that there was clearly no question from the nurse.

Steve tried to hide his smile as he heard the door close.

“A double portion is enough,” he said without opening his eyes, his head still resting on Peggy’s chest.

“The extra portion’s not for you.”

Steve lifted his head to look at her, tutting in mock disgrace. “Stealing food from a hospital patient?”

“Oh hush, I’ve stayed dutifully by your side the entire night, even though this bed is unbelievably uncomfortable. The least I deserve is a decent meal.”

“You could’ve gone home,” he said quietly. “I would’ve understood.”

Peggy’s arm tightened around him. “Hailing a taxi so late at night would have been an awful bother.”

When breakfast arrived it was a hell of a lot better than the hospital food Steve remembered from his frequent stays in hospital as a kid. Although it might’ve had something to with the fact that he was now considered a VIP. He didn’t really want to dwell on that.

Peggy’s appetite had rivalled Steve’s even before she was expecting, so at eight months gone, it was nothing short of impressive.

“Do you reckon they’ll let me take you home today?” She said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

“Since when did you start caring about whether or not someone will _let_ you do something?” He retorted, piercing another sausage with his fork.

“Fair point.”

He felt ready to go home, ready to move on to another mission or target, now that it seemed they’d wiped out the heart of the Hydra unit they’d been tracking. He didn’t want to dwell on the fact that they’d targeted his and Peggy’s unborn child, the thought of it made him feel physically ill.

If he was being completely honest maybe he wanted a distraction, but more than anything, he wanted to wipe out each and every threat to his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments on the last chapter! Hopefully this one lived up to expectations - do let me know :)


	12. Chapter 12

Steve’s recovery was as efficient as Peggy had come to expect. Unfortunately his medical team seemed somewhat uneasy with his absurd rate of recovery, and tried to convince him to stay in the hospital for a few days longer than was really necessary. Steve’s stubbornness ensured that didn’t happen, although it was clear he wasn’t entirely comfortable with going back to their apartment either.

 

They’d disagreed about it in the hospital. Steve had initially suggested the two of them stay in Bucky’s tiny Brooklyn apartment for the time being, while they searched for a new place. Peggy had shot that idea down right away, scolding him for expecting her to sleep on a sofa while she was in the late stages of pregnancy. Which was when he’d suggested one of Howard’s many New York residences. While it wasn’t the worst idea, it still felt an unnecessary hassle.

 

Peggy argued that if their home had been found by Hydra once, there was no doubt they’d be able to find them again. Moving across town wouldn’t solve the problem, and she had no intention of letting them drive her out of her home.

 

Steve had pouted as he tried to come up with a convincing response, but in the end he gave in, and they managed to reach a compromise. They’d return to their apartment, on the condition that Howard would install a home security system.

 

Which was how Peggy ended up almost coming to blows with Howard over his insistence on going through her knicker drawer.

 

“It’s the perfect place to hide the microphone,” Howard explained, with far too much enthusiasm for Peggy’s liking. “No intruder is going to go straight for your delicates.”

 

Peggy was seething. “It’s the _worst_ place to hide _anything_ , everyone hides their valuables in their underwear drawer!”

 

“Look, I’ve got motion sensors on all windows and doors, which will let us know the security’s been compromised by the amount force used to get in,” Howard paused for a moment, his brows furrowing, “on that note, don’t open the windows too forcefully from now on.”

 

Peggy fixed her glare on Howard. He continued, nonetheless.

 

“But when they get in, we’ll need microphones to figure out whether they’re Hydra, or just your run-of-the-mill burglar. The camera in the bedroom will also give us a clue as to –”

 

“The _what?_ ”

 

Howard practically cowered as Peggy’s voice filled the room.

 

“Yeah, I mean, we need to see what’s going on, so I set up a miniature film camera in the bedroom, like my camera pen – you remember?” He looked at her hopefully. “But this actually films the room, broadcasts a copy back to a projector I’ve set up in one of my mansions –”

 

Peggy felt Steve’s hand wrap around her wrist before she realised she’d even raised it.

 

“How about we scrap the recording equipment for now, and just stick to the motion sensors and the alarm that links back to the SSR HQ.” Steve spoke evenly, but Peggy knew him well enough to recognise the irritation underneath his calm façade.

 

“Hey, I wasn’t gonna use the camera for anything unsavoury. Unless you’re into that kind of thing?”

 

Howard winked, and this time Peggy got in a good slap before Steve decided to step in.

 

..............

 

Howard’s security system only made Steve feel marginally better about going back to their apartment. He would’ve preferred to have stayed somewhere else, but he knew Peggy had a point; if Hydra wanted to find them again, a new address wasn’t going to stop them.

 

Steve slept a little lighter the first night back in their apartment.

 

Although Peggy had insisted throughout her pregnancy that she’d continue working right up until the day she went into labour, in her final month she begrudgingly announced that she’d be cutting down her hours. Steve was quietly pleased, he had begun to notice how quickly she tired, but knew better than to say anything. He’d also noticed how she rarely slept through the whole night anymore.

 

Tonight was no different, he felt Peggy tossing and turning beside him, even though she’d already been to the bathroom three times. Steve rolled over, pressing himself against her back as he wrapped an arm around her.

 

“Everything ok?” He whispered.

 

Peggy groaned quietly before rolling over to face him.

 

“I’m tired of this.”

 

“I know,” he said, brushing her hair off her face. “You’re uncomfortable?”

 

She nodded. “The baby’s decided this is an ideal time to test the scope of their abilities, and I don’t have the bloody patience for it.”

 

Even with barely any light, Steve still caught the shimmer in her eyes that suggested she was close to tears. He got up to retrieve the spare pillow they kept in the closet, as well as a couple of couch cushions. He plumped Peggy’s pillow, then laid the extra cushion along the side of the bed, against her back.

 

Peggy sighed as she leaned into the cushions.

 

“How’s that?”

 

“Better.”

 

He climbed back into bed and rested his hand against her bump. The baby really was kicking like it was going out of style.

 

“You mentioned before, they kick more when I talk?”

 

“Not always,” Peggy murmured.

 

He nodded, and moved down the bed so his head was level with Peggy’s belly. Leaning forward, he started to softly tell the story of the time he and Bucky had borrowed sticks and string from someone’s yard so they could try and fish in the water by the docks. It hadn’t been such a well thought out plan.

 

Steve wasn’t sure if it would help or not, but he figured a bedtime story was worth a shot. Peggy seemed amused at first, then her head fell back against the pillow and her eyelids started to look heavy.

 

“Is it helping?” He whispered.

 

“Not really,” Peggy yawned widely. “But it’s keeping me entertained.”

 

..............

 

Steve woke early the next morning with a bundle of sheets scrunched up in his arms. With his eyes still closed he reached out for Peggy but the bed was empty.

 

He found her in the kitchen, wrapped in her robe with the radio playing quietly. Steve wrapped his arms around her, his chest against her back, and leant down to kiss her shoulder.

 

“I’ve made sandwiches for you to take to work.” She nodded to the brown paper bag on the counter.

 

“Thank you.” Steve tried to hide his surprise. He nuzzled her hair, breathing in her comforting scent. “Not that I’m complaining…”

 

“But?”

 

He sighed. “I thought the whole point of taking time off was to give you a chance to rest before the baby comes.”

 

“I couldn’t sleep,” she said matter-of-factly. “The baby won’t stop doing somersaults, so I thought I might as well make use of myself.”

 

He rested his head on Peggy’s shoulder. “Why don’t I take the day off?”

 

“Don’t you dare.”

 

“I just –”

 

“I don’t need babysitting.”

 

“Fine.” He swept Peggy’s hair out the way and began a trail of slow kisses up her neck.

 

“I’m serious,” she murmured. “If those sandwiches go to waste I’ll be terribly cross.”

 

He laughed against her neck. “I’d never let any food you make go to waste, since your cooking is such a rare occurrence.”

 

“Damned cheek!” she reached round to smack his behind, but it only made him laugh harder.

 

..............

 

Steve was distracted at work, to say the least. He was seriously questioning why he’d agreed they would stay in their apartment, especially now that Peggy would be spending more time at home. But Steve and his team had taken out the bulk of Hydra’s unit, and Peggy was more than capable of handling herself.

 

He knew that, he was just having trouble convincing himself not to go home to make sure everything was fine. The scolding he’d likely get from Peggy was just enough to keep him at work. Though the scolding he was getting at work wasn’t much better.

 

Chief Davies was spitting mad.

 

“How did this happen?” He slammed the report down on the meeting room table, where he’d gathered his staff.

 

“Chief?” Thompson spoke up.

 

“How the hell did this band of what I was assured were amateurs,” he looked pointedly at Steve, “manage to draw us into a trap that almost cost us our most valuable asset? The big shots in Washington would’ve had my head if Captain America had been killed on my watch!”

 

Steve cleared his throat. “With all due respect Sir, we completed the objective successfully.”

 

Chief Davies pinched the bridge of his nose, inhaling deeply. “I want answers. What can you give me?”

 

A nervous, young agent passed the Chief a stack of photographs.

 

He thumbed through them slowly. “This isn’t the Hydra symbol,” the Chief grumbled.

 

“Not exactly, Sir, but we have theories.” He waited for the Chief’s nod before continuing. “We think they believed they were one of many smaller Hydra units scattered around the world. No longer a central head with Schmidt at the top, but many smaller units continuing his work, hence, the creature with many heads, rather than one head with a wide spread of tentacles.”

 

“And are they correct?”

 

“Sir?”

 

“Are they one of many rogue Hydra units?”

 

The agent looked blank.

 

“We don’t know Chief,” Thompson replied reluctantly.

 

He slammed his hand down on the table again. “Thompson, you’ll assemble a research team, and you’ll get me that answer. Rogers, you’re staying out of the heavy stuff from now on.”

 

Steve opened his mouth to argue but was cut off by the Chief’s raised hand.

 

“You’re an extremely high profile asset, this is not negotiable.” He turned back to the rest of the room. “We’re going to continue with our objective – to hunt down and destroy every one of those goddamn Hydra units, but for the press release, and for Washington, they were a contained unit, a Hydra copycat, and we wiped them out entirely. Are we clear?”

 

There was a murmur of agreement before the Chief stalked out, leaving the room in an uncomfortable silence.

 

Steve had absolutely no intention of staying out of the heavy stuff.

 

..............

 

Peggy was engrossed in another Agatha Christie when a solid knock broke her concentration. She tossed the book on the coffee table, pushing herself to her feet with considerable effort. She hadn’t quite realised how much she’d begun to depend on Steve’s help until she’d spent a morning without him, even getting dressed had been a struggle now that she couldn’t reach her toes.

 

Peggy hated how her heart raced as she approached the door, as though any visitor to her home was now a threat, as though she wasn’t a highly skilled agent.

 

She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Bucky’s smiling face. “Oh, it’s only you.”

 

“Great to see you too, Peggy.”

 

She smiled. “What are you doing here?”

 

Bucky chuckled, running a hand through his hair. “You really know how to make a fella feel welcome, I can see why Steve’s so taken with you.”

 

Peggy rolled her eyes, but ushered Bucky inside, locking the door behind him.

 

“The stale bread I’ve got at home didn’t seem so appealing, so I decided I’d go somewhere I can get a home cooked meal and warm hospitality,” he explained.

 

Peggy scoffed. “You’ll be so lucky,” but she led him towards the kitchen nonetheless. “You’d have been better off going to the diner.”

 

She tried to catch his eye but he was very decidedly avoiding her gaze.

 

“How is Angie?”

 

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he shrugged.

 

Peggy started searching through the cupboards.

 

“Hey I was kidding.” Bucky took the plate from her hand. “Go and put your feet up.”

 

She wasn’t going to argue, her ankles were already considerably swollen.

 

Bucky set about putting together his lunch, while Peggy watched him from the kitchen table. The smell of food had her craving a second lunch, though it felt as though the baby had more than enough energy, if his thrashing around was anything to go by.

 

“So I take it you’ve not spoken to Angie then?”

 

“Should I have?” He said with feigned indifference.

 

“The last time I saw you together we were almost kicked out of a movie theatre because you couldn’t keep your hands off each other.” Of course she and Steve hadn’t been much better.

 

Bucky carried on with little more than a nod of acknowledgement.

 

“Are you scared?” She asked gently.

 

“Of Angie? Terrified. Have you seen her when she gets mad?”

 

Peggy rolled her eyes. “Of losing her again.”

 

She knew she’d hit the nail on the head by the way Bucky’s hand faltered over his plate.

 

He put the bread and leftover lunchmeat away, and joined her at the table without meeting her eyes once.

 

“You still love her?”

 

He swallowed a bite of his sandwich. “I’m crazy about her,” he replied, finally meeting her eyes.

 

“So what’s holding you back?”

 

Bucky kept his eyes on his plate as he replied. “I don’t see the point in getting close to her, just to watch it fall to pieces again.”

 

Peggy sighed. “And what’s the alternative? Pushing her away? How will you feel when she finds someone else?”

 

Bucky winced.

 

Peggy reached across the table to take Bucky’s hand in hers. She waited for him to meet her gaze.

 

“Look, if you truly believe it can’t work between you, I understand. But if you’re giving up on a chance at real happiness because you’re scared, I think you’ll regret it.”

 

Bucky seemed to ponder her words for a moment, before pulling his hand away and going back to his lunch. “Why do you care so much?”

 

“Because I care about your happiness. Is that so hard to believe?”

 

He wiped a smudge of mayonnaise off his chin, ignoring her question. “So, how is life as a lady of leisure, anyway?”

 

“Dreadfully dull,” Peggy sighed, leaning back in her chair.

 

“Yeah, I didn’t think it’d be for you.”

 

She winced, breath hissing through her teeth, as the baby’s foot collided with her rib.

 

“Peggy?” Bucky sounded panicked.

 

She exhaled loudly. “I’m alright. It’s just a tight fit in there.”

 

He didn’t look convinced.

 

“I’ve been shot twice, I can handle much more than a kick to the ribs.”

 

Bucky laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t doubt that, Carter.”

 

Peggy watched Bucky as he finished eating. They were quiet for a moment before she spoke. “So, why are you really here?”

 

“I told you, I’ve run out of decent food at my place.”

 

She raised an eyebrow. “Steve didn’t send you here to check on me?”

 

“Surprisingly, no. But he’s been on edge all morning,” Bucky admitted as he reached for his drink.

 

Peggy sighed. “I suppose I can’t say I blame him.”

 

“You suppose? Yeah I guess it was only a Nazi terror organisation who sent a couple of mercenaries to his home to kidnap his pregnant wife, no big deal.”

 

She kicked his leg under the table.

 

“So you’re the one who decided to come and check on me?”

 

Bucky shrugged. “I guess I don’t completely trust Howard’s haphazard inventions. Plus the company isn’t too bad, despite the bruise I’ve got forming on my leg.”

 

“Oh pity!”

 

He chuckled. “And I heard a rumour about a tin of “good” cookies reserved only for guests?”

 

Peggy nodded towards the cupboard where said jar was kept, and Bucky jumped up to retrieve it. She wasn’t surprised Steve had told Bucky about the good biscuit tin; he’d made it quite clear how ridiculous he thought it was to keep the best biscuits aside for the rare occasion they had visitors.

 

“Don’t you dare eat them all,” she warned.

 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said through a mouthful of chocolate sandwich cookies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realise it had been so long since I last updated until I came to upload this chapter!
> 
> I honestly almost decided to cut this chapter out, because it kinda felt like there wasn't enough happening in it. But after I worked on it a bit more I decided to keep it, so I'd appreciate any feedback!


	13. Chapter 13

Steve re-tied his bow tie for the third time, frowning in the mirror when the result was lopsided.

 

The Chief had inflated his account of Steve and the Commandos success in wiping out the Hydra unit that had infiltrated the SSR base when relaying it to his superiors. He’d worded the account so successfully, in fact, that someone had felt it was appropriate to hold a party in Steve’s honour, for both his and his team’s success in destroying the final remainder of Schmidt’s legacy.

 

Thompson’s research team hadn’t even formed an official report yet on the possibility of any remaining Hydra sects. As far as Steve was aware they hadn’t even carried out their first recon mission.

 

Steve wouldn’t have wanted a party in his honour anyway, so a party to celebrate a false achievement was a stretch. His formal wear was starchy and uncomfortable, he couldn’t get his parting right, and his bow tie was uneven no matter how he tied it.

 

“It’s a party Steve, you’re not facing the firing squad.”

 

He turned to see Peggy leaning against the door frame.

 

He huffed. “Sure feels like it.”

 

“So dramatic,” she rolled her eyes, walking over him. “You only need to shake a few hands, charm a few senators, and then you’ll be free to enjoy the evening.”

 

It didn’t sound so bad when she put it like that. “I still have to wear this suit though.”

 

“Come here.” Peggy turned his body to face her, reaching up to tie his bow tie. It only took her one try to get it perfectly even.

 

Steve rested his hands on Peggy’s hips, pulling her closer.

 

“It just doesn’t feel right, celebrating the end of Hydra when we’re not even sure whether or not they’re still out there.”

 

She placed her hand on his chest, fiddling with his buttons before looking up to meet his gaze. “There will always be an enemy to fight Steve, always another organisation trying to undo our work. I think it’s important to celebrate our victories, no matter how small.” She took a deep breath. “Chief Davies might have gotten ahead of himself, but that doesn’t mean we have nothing to celebrate.”

 

Steve leaned down, planting a kiss on Peggy’s cheek. “Thank you,” he murmured.

 

She patted his arm.

 

“Now, if you’ve finished getting dressed, I’ve a task for you.”

 

He raised an eyebrow.

 

“It’s a formal event, it won’t do to attend barelegged. But I… I can’t reach my toes,” she admitted.

 

“You want me to help put your stockings on?”

 

“If you don’t mind,” she said, her chin jutting out slightly.

 

Steve smiled, “I usually prefer to help you take them off, but I suppose I can make an exception just the once.”

 

“You’re terrible,” she replied, shaking her head.

 

..............

 

The venue was extravagant, to say the least; they’d pulled out all the stops for America’s hero. Steve looked decidedly uncomfortable.

 

He squeezed Peggy’s hand as they took in the room. It was already brimming with people, the music merged with lively chatter and clinking glasses. Dim lighting drew attention to the enormous chandeliers lining the dancefloor.

 

They also drew one’s eyes to the stage, which the band shared with a portrait of the guest of honour. Steve swallowed audibly.

 

“At least they used a good photograph of you,” she said. Though in her opinion, all photographs of Steve were good photographs.

 

He grunted.

 

The stage was adorned with semi-circular American flags, and contained smaller portraits beside Steve’s, of his Howling Commandos. The scattering of portraits seemed eerily reminiscent of a memorial service; not something Peggy particularly wanted to dwell on.

 

“Perhaps we ought to find the buffet,” she suggested before a couple cut in front of them, enthusiastic grins on their faces.

 

They fended off multiple ambushes from fans of Captain America as they made their way across the room.

 

The array of food almost made the entire fanfare forgivable. The astonishing selection ranged from creamed oysters to a large roast beef joint, and they’d even arranged the vegetables in a delightfully artistic display.

 

The food tasted as delicious as it looked, although admittedly, sitting at a table made it considerably more difficult to avoid Steve’s many admirers, who clearly had no qualms with approaching a table uninvited.

 

When Steve got up for a second helping, his fan club followed, and Peggy was allowed a moments peace.

 

“Is this seat taken, beautiful?”

 

She recognised Howard’s sleazy tone before she turned to see him sliding into the seat beside her.

 

“What are you doing here?” she asked, taking a mouthful of buttered spinach.

 

“You know me Peg, never one to miss an opportunity to drink and dance with beautiful women,” he winked at her, champagne flute in hand.

 

“You mean drink and seduce beautiful women?”

 

He took a sip of his drink. “Peggy, you know me too well.”

 

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her plate, far more interested in her food than in Howard.

 

“Haven’t you had that thing yet?” he said after a while.

 

“By _that thing_ I assume you mean my child.”

 

“Yeah,” he replied. Though he seemed more focused on searching the room. For what, she preferred not to know.

 

“Evidently not.”

 

“You know I heard a rumour,” he said, leaning in closer as he lowered his voice, “that sexual intercourse has been known to induce labour.”

 

“Leave,” she spat.

 

He held his hands up in surrender. “Alright, but if you want me to mention anything to Steve –”

 

“ _Now._ ”

 

He left with an infuriating grin.

 

..............

 

It took Steve much longer than it should have to pick up a second helping, evidently everyone wanted to impress the guest of honour.

 

Although when he did return he brought two plates piled high with extremely rich looking chocolate cake, cream, some kind of pie and a selection of fruit.

 

“They’re serving dessert,” he said as he slid one plate in front of Peggy.

 

“You’re a saint,” she replied, digging in without hesitation.

 

Peggy ate until she felt pains in her stomach, and finally admitted defeat.

 

She noticed Steve turning his spoon over in his hand.

 

“They want me to make a speech,” he said unprompted.

 

Peggy rested her arm against Steve’s shoulder, her fingers combing through his hair. “You are incredibly inspiring.”

 

Steve frowned. “Is it too late to sneak out?”

 

Peggy smiled, shaking her head. “Go and inspire your fan base. I might even let you have a dance when it’s over.”

 

He sighed. “Fine. But I’m gonna hold you to that dance,” he said before softly kissing the corner of her mouth. He patted her stomach and then stood up, crossing the room with his shoulders squared, as though he was about to march into battle.

 

..............

 

Dugan was the one who managed to coax Peggy onto the dancefloor, though with both their bellies between them, they were practically at arm’s length as they spun around carefully.

 

Steve watched them from the edge of the dancefloor.

 

“Not a bad job.”

 

Steve felt a hand squeeze his shoulder, and turned to see Bucky standing beside him.

 

“The speech, I mean.”

 

“Oh, thanks.” He’d pulled something together about continuing the fight against Hydra even when most of the world had stopped. About carrying on so others wouldn’t have to.

 

“Let’s hope that was really the end of it all.” Bucky smiled, but it was strained.

 

“It can be for you, Buck. You can walk away from this, you know.” He took a sip of his drink, eyeing Bucky cautiously. “The war’s over for most people, it should be for you too.”

 

Bucky nodded, quiet for a moment.

 

“And what about you?” Bucky glanced over at Peggy, letting Dugan lead her as they danced. “You’re about to be a father, shouldn’t it be over for you?”

 

He shook his head. “This is where I’m most useful. Maybe one day…” he thought about it, for a moment, about having a regular office job, or being a full time artist. Not risking life and limb when most of the world was at peace.

 

But then he thought about Hydra slowly gaining more power, threatening everything they’d fought for. He imagined what it would be like to watch them gain traction because he gave up the use of his enhanced abilities where they were needed most, in favour of living a simpler life.

 

He sighed. “I can’t walk away from this, Buck. Especially not now.”

 

..............

 

Peggy only managed a dance and a half with Dugan before she needed to sit down again, the pain in her abdomen was intermittent, but felt uncomfortably tight when it peaked. She thoroughly regretted gorging herself on the generous buffet.

 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dugan pull a cigar out of his breast pocket.

 

“Don’t you dare,” she warned.

 

“They don’t smell that bad!”

 

“Unless you want to see my dinner in reverse, I suggest you take that outside.”

 

“Fine,” he huffed, shoving it back in his pocket.

 

He pouted for a moment before forgetting his annoyance after a few sips of bourbon.

 

“When’s my godchild going to make an appearance?” He looked genuinely excited, his moustache stretching into a smile.

 

“Soon, if I’m lucky, and we haven’t decided on godparents yet.”

 

“But you’ve got a name, right? Timothy for a boy?”

 

Peggy rolled her eyes.

 

She felt another tightening pain and her hand went to her bump, rubbing in soothing circles. It was rock hard.

 

“Everything alright over there?” Dugan’s gruff voice softened with concern.

 

“Perfectly fine, thank you.”

 

..............

She spotted Angie across the room, talking animatedly to a group of people Peggy didn't recognise. She hadn’t expected Angie to be here, since she wasn’t linked to the SSR. Which meant she was probably here as Bucky’s date. That thought warmed Peggy.

 

When Angie finally clocked Peggy she waved enthusiastically, and made a bee line towards her table.

 

“You look a million bucks Peg,” Angie slurred, slipping into the seat next to her.

 

Peggy raised an eyebrow.

 

“I’m serious. About to give birth and you’re still a knockout.”

 

“How much have you had?”

 

“Did you know it’s an open bar?” Angie asked, leaning heavily on the table.

 

Peggy just laughed.

 

“So, how exactly did you manage to score a ticket to such an exclusive event?”

 

Angie leaned in close, her lips quirking into a grin. “I’m sleeping with one of the Howling Commandos.”

 

“Oh for heaven’s sake.”

 

Angie’s head tipped back in laughter.

 

The pain in Peggy’s abdomen returned again, this time slightly stronger. She took a few deep breaths. Fortunately Angie was too far gone to take any notice.

 

“So Bucky asked you here, as a date?” She asked, needing a distraction.

 

She nodded, a grin stretching across her face. “We’re gonna make another go of it.”

 

“Oh Angie, I’m so glad.”

 

“Tell me about it! I thought we were done for good the last time we broke things off.” Angie’s words slurred as she carried on, talking excitedly about Bucky, about new beginnings. Peggy was struggling to focus.

 

The room felt warmer than before, the music obnoxiously loud.

 

“Will you excuse me?” Peggy stood up abruptly, ignoring the way her back protested the sudden movement.

 

Angie waved her hand in acknowledgement, reaching for her cocktail glass.

 

Peggy headed towards a set of ornate wooden doors near the edge of the dancefloor, avoiding the gaze of guests looking for another target to ambush with mindless chitchat.

 

She could already feel another tightening pain building as she pushed through the doors, making it into the quiet corridor just in time. She placed her hand against the wall to steady herself, screwing her eyes shut as the pain intensified.

 

“Carter?” Dugan’s tone was laced with worry.

 

“Is she ok?”

 

Peggy recognised Morita’s voice as well. _Damn._ The last thing she needed was an audience.

 

“I’m alright I…” she gritted her teeth as it peaked. Her abdomen tightened again, pain spreading down her back. When it was over she opened her eyes, breathing heavily. “Get Steve.”

 

Morita sprinted out of sight, and she felt Dugan’s reassuring arm at her side.

 

“It was the beef, wasn’t it?” His eyes creased as he chuckled at his own joke.

 

All Peggy could offer him was a weak smile.

 

..............

 

Steve was caught between a senator and his overly friendly wife, as he sipped his beer and scanned the room for an escape. The woman had her hand on his arm, stroking up and down as she told him about her passion for interior design, while her husband’s grip on his champagne flute tightened.

 

She was saying something about florals pulling together a room when Steve felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder.

 

Morita’s tight smile greeted him. “Cap, a minute?”

 

He made his excuses and followed Morita away from the noise.

 

“Peggy’s asking for you.”

 

Steve glanced over at the table where Peggy had spent most of the evening. Angie was sat alone. He turned back to Morita, brows furrowed.

 

“This way.”

 

He led Steve towards the exit, carefully skirting the crowd.

 

Steve could hear Peggy and Dugan bickering before he could see them.

 

“We need towels, and hot water, I think. I’m sure they needed hot water when my aunt –”

 

“For god’s sake man, I’m not having the baby _here!_ ”

 

“Can you feel a head starting to –”

 

“ _Dugan._ ”

 

Steve’s chest tightened. He rounded the corner and saw Peggy grasp Dugan’s arm tightly, eliciting a high pitched yell from him.

 

“Peggy?” His own voice sounded distant.

 

She looked at him then, face scrunched in pain, breathing heavily.

 

“I think,” her nails dug into Dugan’s arm, “I might be going into labour.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was honestly starting to feel like I was never gonna get to this point... lmao. Let me know what you think! (the comments are what motivate me to keep going!)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to dreaminglikeeames over on tumblr for coming up with Howard's "Are you even pushing" line, and for inspiring that whole scene with this ask: http://rachlovesligers.tumblr.com/post/145872322002/so-i-read-the-latest-chapter-and-i-feel-like
> 
> Thank you!

“ _Fuck._ ”

 

Peggy watched as the colour drained from Steve’s face. The pain from her contraction was fading.

 

“Fuck,” he repeated, pushing his fingers anxiously through his hair. “How much time do we have? Do we need to call a doctor? _Shit_ , are there even any beds here?”

 

“For pity’s sake, not you as well!” Peggy rolled her eyes, but Steve seemed far too wrapped up in his panic to take any notice.

 

She turned to Morita. “Get the keys from my handbag and bring the car around.”

 

He nodded sharply before turning on his heels.

 

Steve was now pacing.

 

Peggy sighed and began to walk towards the exit. Dugan was at her side, arms out as if she needed steadying, and the movement seemed to snap Steve out of it. She felt his hand at her elbow.

 

“We’ve got time?” He was making an effort to sound calm.

 

“Plenty of time, darling, the contractions are still relatively far apart.”

 

By the time they’d made it outside Morita had stopped the car and opened the doors.

 

“We’ll meet you there!” Dugan yelled, turning to leave.

 

“You’ll do no such thing!” Peggy replied angrily.

 

“Morita, round the fellas up.”

 

Peggy sighed, the last thing she needed was a military escort to the hospital.

 

..............

 

The roads where mercifully empty, though it didn’t do much to ease Steve’s panic, judging by how tightly his hands were wrapped around the steering wheel. Peggy took a deep breath, knowing exactly how her next sentence would land.

 

“Steve, I need you to take me home.”

 

He turned to face her, his brows furrowed. “You’re in labour.”

 

“Early labour,” she corrected, “and we need the hospital bag.”

 

She heard him curse under his breath, but he didn’t argue.

 

Steve seemed focused on making it home as quickly as possible, but when her next contraction started to build she felt his free hand at the nape of her neck, rubbing in soothing circles.

 

..............

 

“Are you sure five outfits will be enough for the baby? We don’t know how long they’re going to keep you in afterwards.”

 

Steve, in his frantic state, had decided to perform a last minute check of the hospital bag. It hadn’t been his original plan – he’d wanted Peggy to stay in the car while he dashed in to pick up the bag. But she’d wanted a moment to collect herself, in her own home, so he’d found something to keep himself occupied.

 

“I’m sure five is plenty, besides, you can always come home to pick up more if we need them.” Her words fell on deaf ears, as Steve piled another two outfits into the bag. “I’ll just take a quick shower and then we can –”

 

Steve blanched. “You’re going to _what?_ ”

 

“I – shower, is that not…”

 

Steve seemed at a loss for words, so she took his apparent muteness as an opportunity to slip into the bathroom.

 

She felt better, away from the noise and heat of the ballroom. But the contractions were still building steadily, and Peggy knew she couldn’t put off going to the hospital forever.

 

..............

 

If Steve had needed something to tip him over the edge, Peggy emerging from the bathroom to explain that she needed another dress to change into because her waters had broken just as she’d put on the first one was it.

 

He’d almost worn a hole in the carpet, pacing outside the bathroom as he’d waited for her, and Peggy was sure the only thing stopping him from lifting her into his arms and carrying her to the car was the scolding he’d get if he tried.

 

As it stood, she’d managed to get to the car before another contraction hit. Though apparently that still wasn’t fast enough for Steve, whose knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel.

 

..............

 

“Can we just get her in the room, then we can talk about who’s allowed in?”

 

Peggy’s face was scrunched up in pain and she was breathing heavily. Steve was categorically not in the mood to be shooed away from her.

 

“I’m more than happy to take her into the room,” the nurse replied icily, “and you can find the waiting room just down the hall, as I’ve told you.”

 

“What use am I gonna be to her in the waiting room?”

 

The nurse’s smile tightened. “I can assure you we’re well equipped with a high calibre of medical staff.”

 

“Oh for goodness sake, he’s not asking to deliver the baby,” Peggy snapped. “He just wants to comfort me while I’m screaming in pain. Do you need a medical degree to hold someone’s hand?”

 

The nurse looked taken aback. “Well, no, but it’s not exactly appropriate for the husband to be –”

 

“It’s not exactly appropriate for you to be denying basic comforts to a woman in labour, but that hasn’t seemed to stop you.”

 

The nurse’s mouth dropped open, and Steve felt a little bad for her. But she moved aside, giving Steve the opportunity to push Peggy in her chair through the door. He figured the nurse had probably heard much worse from other labouring women.

 

..............

 

Peggy had been checked over, changed into a nightgown, and signed the relevant paperwork in a flurry of activity.

 

She found it hard to discern if the contractions had gotten worse, or the sudden lack of distractions simply meant they seemed worse because they were all she had to focus on.

 

Steve seemed to have snapped out of his panic, for the most part. He was making himself useful by unpacking the items he thought she might need, in between timing her contractions and the gaps between then.

 

He didn’t seem to take any notice of the two nurses and receptionist at the door, conferring quietly.

 

Steve reached over to tuck a lock of Peggy’s hair behind her ear. “Do you need anything?”

 

She nodded towards the group of medical staff, whispering at the door.

 

“Is something wrong?” Steve addressed the group.

 

They all turned towards the sound of Steve’s voice.

 

It was the receptionist who stepped forward. “There’s a crowd of rowdy men in the waiting room, they claim they’re with you, but I have half a mind to turf them out if they can’t control themselves.”

 

Peggy fell back against the pillows. “Bloody Dugan.”

 

“I’ll talk to them.” Steve dropped a kiss on Peggy’s head before heading towards the waiting room.

 

Peggy was left alone with her nurse, who was eyeing her suspiciously. “I’ll allow the husband in but that’s the limit, if any one of them tries to get in here –”

 

“Oh I assure you,” Peggy cut her off, “not a single one of those men will be setting foot inside this room.”

 

..............

 

Steve was able to calm the fellas down enough to convince the receptionist not to throw them out, though it wasn’t an easy task. After an evening of drinking and dancing, the prospect of a “Howling Commandos baby” coming into the world had them all brimming with excitement, and determined to stay no matter how long it took.

 

Peggy simply rolled her eyes when he told her they had no intention of leaving. She’d moved to the armchair by the window, not that there was much to see out of it. But Peggy seemed to hate the idea of staying in bed, and Steve wasn’t in the least bit surprised.

 

He knelt on the floor beside Peggy, until a nurse took pity on him and brought in another chair.

 

As the hours dragged on Steve rarely let go of Peggy’s hand. He kept a conversation going, trying to give Peggy something to focus on other than her contractions. Though he faltered every time her brows scrunched together and her nails dug into his skin.

 

Rubbing her back seemed to help. But it barely felt like enough when the contractions got so bad that she started to groan and whimper into his neck.

 

“Shh, shh, it’s alright.” He pressed kisses into her hair as his hand rubbed her lower back in soothing circles.

 

Peggy gripped his arm tightly, and he held her close, listening as her breathing slowed.

 

“Do you want to move back to the bed?” He murmured, when it seemed like the worst had passed.

 

He felt her shake her head.

 

..............

 

The pain was excruciating, but Peggy has expected that. She’d taken bullets, for god’s sake, she was all too familiar with pain. What she hadn’t been prepared for was how long it dragged on.

 

The contractions came and went, pushing against her hips, burning against her lower back. But she could’ve handled that, if it hadn’t lasted so damn long.

 

After seven hours the nurse told her she wasn’t dilated enough, that she had quite a while before she’d need to start pushing. She almost cried out at that, and she could tell Steve knew she was close to losing it.

 

She’d moved back to the bed to be examined, but she felt restless.

 

“Hey, Peg,” Steve kept his voice soft and soothing. “Why don’t we go for a walk?”

 

He brushed his fingers through her hair gently, as his eyes searched her face. The crease between his brows seemed to have become a permanent feature.

 

“Mm, alright.”

 

With a bit of effort she got out of bed. Steve helped her put her slippers on, and wrapped a supportive arm around her as she shuffled towards the door.

 

“Don’t leave the ward, and have her back within the hour,” the nurse warned.

 

They made sure to steer clear of the waiting room. Peggy was in no mood to be surrounded by boisterous commandos, and Steve didn’t seem to be feeling particularly social either.

 

He didn’t loosen his grip around her back as they walked, though to be honest, she needed the support more than she liked to admit.

 

“Regretting not taking the chance to wait this out in the comfort of the hospital waiting room?” She asked, looking up at Steve.

 

He shook his head. “Not in the slightest.”

 

“No?”

 

“No,” he confirmed.

 

They managed to walk for a while before Peggy felt the tightening pain start again.

 

“Steve,” she warned.

 

He understood immediately, turning to face her. He pulled her arms up so they wrapped around his neck, giving her something to hold on to, while his arms wrapped across her back, supporting her weight.

 

“I’ve got you,” he murmured, as the pain spread through her.

 

She cried into his neck, letting him hold her up when she struggled to stand.

 

..............

 

Peggy’s labour finally started to pick up pace when they got back to the room. She was back in the hard armchair when another burning contraction hit. She crushed Steve’s hand in hers as the pain tore through her, crying out as it peaked.

 

Her scream was punctuated by a sharp knock on the door.

 

“Are you even pushing?” Howard’s voice carried through the door. “I thought I was coming here to see a baby.”

 

“Howard!” Steve’s sharp shout was a warning, as he glared at the closed door.

 

It didn’t seem to have the desired effect.

 

“Sometime this year would be nice,” Howard continued, clearly still intoxicated.

 

“I’m going to _murder_ him when I’m through with this,” Peggy growled between heavy breaths.

 

Steve brushed Peggy’s damp hair off her face. “Just ignore him,” he murmured.

 

“Why don’t you knock back a few gin and tonics? That usually loosens you up,” Howard yelled, apparently oblivious to her anger.

 

Before Peggy could respond she felt Steve pry his hand from her grip. He stormed towards the door, quickly closing it behind him as he left.

 

She heard Howard’s protests fade, and minutes later Steve came back into the room alone, closing the door with a tight expression on his face.

 

“He won’t be bothering you again,” Steve said before he situated himself back at her side, placing his hand in hers.

 

..............

 

The nurse had encouraged Peggy to keep moving. It seemed to help speed things up, and after close to eight hours in labour Peggy desperately needed things to speed up.

 

Steve knew she was doing her best to move around, but it was clear she was utterly exhausted. He stayed at her side as she shuffled around the room, gripping his arm with more strength than she should have after such a gruelling night.

 

Peggy sat heavily on the edge of the bed just as another contraction began. Steve was at her side, rubbing circles in her back where she’d told him it hurt the most. She grabbed his hand, crushing it between her fingers as she let out a low, pained groan.

 

“You’re doing so well, Peggy,” Steve murmured when Peggy’s grip on his hand began to loosen.

 

She slumped against him, breathing heavily. Steve wrapped her up in his arms.

 

“I’m so tired,” Peggy whispered against his neck. Her skin was so warm and damp against his.

 

“I know,” he crooned, kissing the top of her head. “I promise it’ll be over soon, and then you can sleep for as long as you need.” He tightened his arms around her. “I’ll take care of the baby, you won’t have to do a thing.”

 

“Oh, you’ll learn how to nurse?” She patted his chest. “I knew these were good for something.”

 

“Alright, smartass,” he chuckled. “When the baby gets hungry, I’ll hand them over to you. But everything else, I’ll take care of.”

 

Peggy mumbled incoherently in response, and Steve just held her close.

 

..............

 

Everything seemed to be picking up pace. Peggy had been examined again, and they’d finally told her she was almost ready to start pushing. Steve didn’t understand how they expected her to have any energy left to push a baby out after so many hours in labour, but no one else seemed to share his concern.

 

More medical staff were coming in and out of the room, giving Peggy words of encouragement, and Steve looks of confusion. He’d been asked more than once if perhaps he’d be more comfortable in the waiting room. His frown seemed to be enough to get them to leave him alone.

 

Steve was not even remotely in the mood to be asked about _his_ comfort while Peggy was lying next to him, groaning in pain.

 

A younger nurse, one of the few who didn’t seem offended by his presence, offered him a damp cloth to cool Peggy down with. He pressed it gently to her forehead.

 

As the contractions worsened, Peggy’s screams became interspersed with more and more expletives. None of the staff so much as raised an eyebrow at Peggy’s colourful language, even when it was aimed directly at them.

 

“I want you to start pushing on your next contraction,” the nurse instructed.

 

Peggy fell back against the pillows, panting, and nodded. Steve pressed his lips gently to her forehead.

 

“You’re bloody pushing the next one out,” she said fiercely, glaring at Steve before throwing her arm over her face.

 

“I don’t know if, I’m not sure that’s –”

 

Peggy took her arm away from her face and frowned up at him, and he couldn’t bear to deny her anything, no matter how ridiculous.

 

“Yeah, ok, I’m pushing out the next one,” he replied, offering her a weak smile.

 

Steve pushed back the strands of hair that clung to the side of Peggy’s face. She looked up at him desperately, her chest heaving and features tight.

 

“Bloody Nora!” She lurched forward with a scream.

 

“Remember to push,” the nurse called out.

 

..............

 

As Steve’s nerves became increasingly frayed, Peggy seemed to find more and more strength. The screams and groans had stopped, for the most part, and Peggy was quiet as she put all her strength into pushing with every contraction.

 

Steve remained glued to her side, hunched over the bed. He’d lost track of who else was still in the room; he was conscious of movement around Peggy, but all he could focus on was her.

 

Peggy collapsed back onto the bed again, her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to catch her breath. Steve tried to make his mouth form words, anything to offer her comfort, but nothing came out. Moments later he heard Peggy whimper. His stomach churned as he watched the pain start to build in her face again, but before he could react her hand circled his wrist with a crushing strength.

 

Her shoulders hunched forward with the effort of pushing, her face tight with pain, and Steve felt the fierceness of his love for Peggy overwhelm him as he watched her put everything she had into every push.

 

It took a surprisingly short amount of time before the doctor announced he could see the head; that it wouldn’t be long now.

 

Peggy did scream with the next few pushes, and Steve did everything he could to comfort her. It all seemed to be moving so quickly, he was vaguely aware of the doctor telling Peggy she only needed one more big push, but Steve’s attention was still fixed on Peggy’s face.

 

With one more contraction Peggy fell back onto the bed, breathing heavily, and Steve’s attention was finally torn away from her when he heard their baby’s first cries.

 

“A girl,” Peggy crooned.

 

There was a burst of activity around the end of the bed as they cut the cord and bundled her in blankets.

 

Steve was breathless as he watched the nurse carry her, purple and screaming, and place her on Peggy’s chest. Her head was covered in a mop of brown hair, damp and sticking out in all directions.

 

She started to settle when her cheek touched Peggy’s skin, and Peggy’s hand cupped her head gently, soothing her.

 

“She’s got your hair,” Steve heard himself say, though his voice shook, and he could feel his cheeks were damp. He reached out to touch his daughter’s arm as gently as he could, his thumb skimming her tiny fist.

 

Peggy hummed in agreement, stroking her head softly. As the baby squirmed on Peggy’s chest, she blinked, looking up.

 

“She’s got your eyes, Steve,” Peggy said in the most adoring tone. She gazed up at him, exhaustion clear on her face, and Steve felt his love for Peggy and their daughter as though it were a physical force through his body.

 

With no words that could even come close to expressing his adoration for them both, he wrapped his arm around them and buried his face in Peggy’s hair.

 

..............

 

It was a while before Steve and Peggy were left alone with their daughter. Peggy had managed the first feed, with some help, and through the haze of exhaustion she’d tried to commit to memory the look of pure joy and adoration on Steve’s face as he’d gazed down at them both.

 

Peggy was drowsing as Steve cradled their daughter in the chair beside her bed.

 

“Are we going to go with Sarah?” She asked, her eyelids heavy.

 

“I thought we could use that as a middle name,” he murmured, stroking their daughter’s hair gently, before he looked up to meet Peggy’s gaze. “What about Margaret?” His voice was still thick with emotion. “She looks just like you, Peg.”

 

“She looks like a baby.” She smiled, rolling her eyes. “Besides, her eyes are blue.” Peggy hoped they wouldn’t change. From the glance she’d got they had looked so similar to Steve’s eyes.

 

“They’re the same shape as yours though,” Steve murmured.

 

Peggy sighed, falling back against the pillow. “We’re not naming her after me, that’s absurd. Besides, it’ll be far too confusing.”

 

“No it won’t.” Steve replied. “Everyone calls you Peggy.”

 

“It’s egotistical to name ones child after oneself.”

 

“You’re not naming her after yourself. _I’m_ naming her after you.” Steve looked down, gazing at their sleeping daughter again. “The strongest person I know,” he added with conviction.

 

Peggy knew she could put her foot down if she wanted to, she didn’t imagine Steve would deny her anything in that moment, despite how stubborn he could be. But she didn’t want to put her foot down. To her own surprise she found Steve’s determination to name their daughter after her rather touching.

 

She threw arm against the pillow as she conceded. “Fine. Margaret Sarah Rogers.” She sighed. “But we’re calling her Maggie.”

 

Steve looked up at her, grinning from ear to ear. “I love you so much.”

 

“I should hope so,” she sighed, before finally closing her eyes.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I finally got here!! I hope it didn't disappoint.
> 
> In case anyone was wondering, Steve got rid of Howard by literally picking him up and carrying him to the waiting room, where he put him down amongst the Commandos and told them not to let Howard out of their sight.
> 
> Also, when I first planned out this story, they had a son called James. But then I got caught up in the idea of Steve being adorable with a daughter. It was also supposed to end here - it was just going to be a steggy pregnancy story, but I've become really attached to this story, and all the comments and encouragement made me want to keep going with it, so this is definitely not the last chapter anymore!
> 
> I'm always up for talking about this fic or anything steggy related over on tumblr btw!
> 
> Edit: After a couple of comments from people who liked the idea of Howard being carried away by Steve, I actually ended up writing that scene! So if you want to read that you can find it here: http://rachlovesligers.tumblr.com/post/149221845022/this-love-came-back-to-me-extra-scene


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